''Accumulator 1'' ( cs, Akumulátor 1) is a 1994 film directed by

Jan Svěrák Jan Svěrák () (born 6 February 1965 in Žatec) is a Czech film director. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák. He studied documentary filmmaking at the FAMU. He and his films have received awards including the Academy Award ...

. The film won the Grand Prize at the 7th

Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Fil ...

in February 1996. It won the audience award at the

Tromsø International Film Festival The Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) is an annual film festival held during the third week of January in Tromsø, Norway. The inaugural Tromsø International Film Festival was held in 1991. TIFF has 5 screening venues, including one ...

in 1996.

Plot

After a young surveyor, Olda (Petr Forman), watches himself on television, and his colleagues Slezák ( Bolek Polívka) steals his love interest Jitka ( Tereza Pergnerová), he is suddenly completely without energy and ends up unconscious for three days. In hospital he meets Fišarek (

Zdeněk Svěrák Zdeněk Svěrák (born 28 March 1936) is a Czech actor, humorist, playwright and scriptwriter, and one of the most well-known and popular Czech cultural personalities. Since 1968 he has appeared in 32 films. Career In 1958, he graduated in Czec ...

), a healer who is visiting his neighbour, Mikulík (

Jiří Kodet Jiří Kodet (6 December 1937 – 25 June 2005) was a Czech actor. He appeared in more than ninety films between 1951 and 2003. His mother Jiřina Steimarová and his daughter Barbora Kodetová are also actresses. Selected filmography Refe ...

). After leaving hospital he works on his energy problems with Fišarek, who shows him how to take energy from his surroundings, especially wood. When Mikulík dies, they go to inspect his body. They are interrupted by his daughter Anna (

Edita Brychta Edita Brychta is a British actress. Early life Brychta began acting as a young child in the Czech film Kinoautomat, the world's first interactive movie, which was presented at Expo 67 in Montreal. At the age of 16, she joined London's Nationa ...

), who displays antagonism towards Fišarek. Fišarek continues his tests on Olda, with some other healers. They witness a teacher on television, struggling to express himself, as Olda did. We then witness an alternate universe in which alternate versions of people on television party raucously using energy sucked from their real world counterparts. Back in the real world Olda visits Anna at work and they go for coffee together. Despite meeting a drunken Slezák in the cafe, they click, and Olda drives Anna home. They admit their feelings for each other, and progress to the bedroom to make love. However, Olda accidentally turns the television on, and his energy is again sucked from him, at which point he realises the truth. When he visits Fišarek to tell him, he meets the teacher from the television, who has reached the same conclusion. The teacher heads to the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

to escape televisions, while Olda stays in Prague to be near Anna. The teacher comes into contact with a television even in the High Tatras and appeals to Fišarek for help, who joins him. The next time he is at Anna's, Olda suggests marriage, but then discovers that she has a daughter. She tells him to meet her at the opera the next day if he wants to keep seeing her. In the meantime he buys several remote controls as protection. Back at his flat he meets Jitka, who complains about Slezák and propositions him. He rejects her and goes to meet Anna at the opera (''

Nabucco ''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, "Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, J ...

''), where he has trouble staying in his seat due to fluctuating energy levels. After the opera they drive back to Anna's, with Olda struggling to avoid televisions on the way. During a power cut that evening, Olda formulates a plan to overcome his condition by flooding the television with energy. The next day Olda collects as much energy as he can from his surroundings. In the evening Anna and Olda go to her work party, but Olda is preoccupied. Eventually he leaves to carry out his plan. He is interrupted by Slezák, who is looking for Jitka. Olda continues undeterred and on a bridge near his house, uses a stockpile of wood in his flat to overwhelm the television set with energy. When the dust settles his television alter-ego has appeared; they embrace and merge. Slezák, who had broken into Olda's flat by the time of the explosion, is arrested. The next morning Olda phones Anna to apologise and it is presumed that their relationship will proceed normally.

Cast

* Petr Forman as Olda Soukup *

as Anna *

as Fišarek: a natural healer * Marián Labuda as The Teacher * Bolek Polívka as Slezák * Tereza Pergnerová as Jitka *

as Mikulík * Marketa Frosslová as Anička * Ladislav Smoljak as Caretaker * Daniela Kolářova as Mrs. Fišarkova * Rudolf Hrušinský Jr. as Pitrýsek * David Koller as The Cowboy * Robert Kodym as The Indian * Nada Safratova as Gabriela * Ivo Kašpar as Pištek

References

External links

* {{Jan Svěrák 1994 films 1994 comedy films 1990s fantasy comedy films 1990s Czech-language films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Jan Svěrák Czech action films Czech science fiction films Czech comedy films Czech fantasy films Czech Lion Awards winners (films) Films with screenplays by Zdeněk Svěrák Films about television 1994 multilingual films Czech multilingual films