“Daughter of the Nation” series on Canal+: the rebel of Prague
Zdenka Havlickova has neither a street nor a commemorative plaque named after her in the Czech Republic. Few people know of her existence, as if she had been erased from the national narrative she helped to write. This original miniseries, co-produced by Canal+ and Czech television, fills this gap by loosely adapting her biography published in 2013. The young woman had everything to seduce screenwriters: a strong personality and a romantic life, marked by drama and forbidden love.
The story begins in Prague in 1871, when an orphaned Zdenka lives in the modest home of her seamstress aunt. A handful of nationalist writers and politicians, seeking to free the Czech people from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, decide to make the teenager, the daughter of a glorified author, the living symbol of national culture and virtues. They organize a lottery to provide her with a dowry and plan to choose a husband for her... a Czech one, of course.
This is without taking into account the rebellious spirit of the young woman who will fall in love with a Polish aristocrat, who is also serving in the Austro-Hungarian army. Double betrayal! Tracing the fiasco of the operation and the shattered destiny of Zdenka, played by the fiery and touching Antonie Formanova, the series gradually slides from amusing satire denouncing the sexism of the time to romantic comedy, ending in pure melodrama, when the nation's darling becomes a fallen idol.
Shot in superb historical settings, this biopic doesn't hesitate to embrace its anachronisms through resolutely contemporary production. Modern language, a soundtrack, and pop-rock choreography dust off the genre, while each character is introduced with a card detailing the number of streets or monuments named in their honor to highlight gender inequality. Enough to resonate with younger generations and annoy purists of old-school sagas.
La Croıx
