Movie Review: Lída Baarová

Despite exquisite period detail throughout the rest of the film, Baarová (Táňa Pauhofová) and her mother (Simona Stašová) are digitally inserted into period stock footage of 1930s Berlin a la Forrest Gump.
Actors playing the parts of Gustav Fröhlich (Gedeon Burkhard, Inglourious Basterds) and Joseph Goebbels (Karl Markovics, The Grand Budapest Hotel) seem to be speaking their native German onscreen, hideously dubbed into Czech (we can hear Goebbels drooling over Baarová on the soundtrack, but none of that is evident in Markovics’ performance).
If you’ve been dying to see a sex scene with Joseph Goebbels, here’s your chance: complete with writhing nude bodies, moans on the soundtrack, and an Goebbels’ squeaky ankle brace pushing against the side of a couch. As he climaxes, his devilish face is digitally superimposed on the roaring fireplace.
Czech actor Pavel Kříž, meanwhile, best known for his comedic roles in the “Poets” series that started with Jak svět přichází o básníky, stars as Hitler. His broad portrayal initially invokes Charlie Chaplin – wearing a costume one size too large, he bashfully faces away from Baarová during an awkward seduction attempt – but later on he slips into full Bruno Ganz foaming-at-the-mouth Downfall mode when berating Goebbels over the affair.
Goebbels, on the phone with Baarová, sobbing uncontrollably as he tells her they can’t see each other any longer. Actual dialogue: “Hitler yelled at me!”
Baarová’s mother died during interrogation after the war, but that’s represented here in the worst possible way: an almost comedic cliché where two officials deny her pleas for water, and she drops dead of thirst.
Similarly, Baarová’s sister committed suicide during, and that’s relayed here with all the grace of a Calvin Klein commercial: discordant notes onthe soundtrack, a flowing gown blowing in the wind, and a see-through top that reveals her nipples as she leaps from a roof.
Slovak actress Tatiana Pauhofová was extraordinary in the 2013 miniseries Burning Bush, but she was a strange pick for the lead here, bearing little physical resemblance to Baarová and completely lacking her commanding screen presence (her frequent wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look is an especially odd choice). And she’s a decade older than Baarová was during most of the events in the film; Anna Fialová, playing Lida’s young sister, would have been a better fit in the lead.
Over-the-top product placement is common in mainstream Czech films, but you wouldn’t expect it to make an appearance in historical fare like this. It does.
In the film’s final sequence, the 80-year-old Baarová (Zdenka Procházková, who’s pretty great in the movie’s Titanic-like framing device) excuses any historical innacuracies within the film as “stories” she has made up for “her final role.” Now that’s a ballsy move on behalf of the filmmakers.

Movie Review: Lída Baarová

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