Beautiful compendium of seven Czech tales: in "Kytice" (Wild Flowers/Garland/The Bouquet), three little girls miss their dead mother and make her come back in a very special way; in "Vodnik" (Waterman), a young woman disobeys her mother and falls into a lake, where she is seduced by an amphibious man to whom she bears a child; in "Svatební košile" (Wedding Shirts), a woman begs to the virgin Mary for her soldier husband's return and he does come back as a ghost; in "Polednice" (Noon Witch), a housewife, worried by the crying of her baby, invokes the presence of the terrible witch Coca; in "Zlatý kolovrat" (The Gold Spinning-Wheel), an innocent and beautiful peasant girl who is asked in marriage by a king, is murdered by her ambitious mother and twin sister, to take her place in court; in "Dcerina kletba" (Curse of the Daughter), a young woman is punished for abortion; and in "Štedrý den" (Christmas Day), two girls go out into the dark, frosty forest to solve an enigma, without realizing Death is after a dear one, completing the circle of stories, based in ballads written by Karel Jaromír Erben in 1853. All the tales belong to the mythic and poetic spirit of Romanticism, with elements of fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, eroticism, death and predestination. A highly rewarding cinematic experience.

I just want to explain (especially to Murushi), that the director does not hate woman and children :o) its's simply so, that the original stories (ballads/folk-tales not fairy tales..) are really cruel and dark.. Director gave these stories a bit modern view, e.g. Vodnik (Waterman) is more a romantic story than a horror story.. He cries in the end so as the girl does. It shows him as a hot-tempered man doing this all in affect and grieving for what he has done. I just try to translate you the original end of this story from the book (if you don't mind - its a clear spoiler :o): Written by K.J.Erben in 1853, according to the old folklore stories in a romanticism style:"Two things they lie in blood here-frisson goes through the back:a child's head without a body a body without a head" Please, excuse my bad English :o)), but you see there is no place for sorrow in this story.. I just want to explain, that these stories are dark in their original but Brabec gave them a new and colorful face and maybe changed a bit our view of these stories (which our people knew from the basic school). I know these stories from my mother, she knows it from her mother and so on.. They even knew some of these poems whole by heart according to the book and were telling them to us when we were children :o) My granny's parents and her grand parents were telling these stories in winter time, when there was cold outside (and TV was no invented yet) and they wanted to have some fun :o)

I don't know how could someone dislike a movie like this one. Most important to this movie is not story, but picture and emotions. I was really astonished by this movie and I still think its one of the best Czech movies and its picture is one of the best of all films. In my opinion the best part was The Water Spirit. Its ending with desperate man sitting in the mud and crying over his loss of wife and child is simply breathtaking. These emotions are so deep that everyone must feel it with the Spirit. Also the picture of girl falling from the bridge is fantastic. I think this movie is definitely worth seeing for the feelings inside..

Kytice (The Bouquet or Garland) is an exquisitely beautiful compendium of Czech fairy tales in an mature mode. These is not fairy tales ala Disney. Rather this is 'Marchen', the serious mythopoeic stuff. These are fairy tales with a very dark brooding Eastern European flavour. I happened to fall upon this by accident in Prague in December of 2000. I did not understand the dialogue since I do not speak Czech. But then again I really didn't need to. The images were absolutely stunning. The film is a collection of seven stories loosely bolted together with an over riding theme. Visually I was reminded on "A Company of Wolves" or even "Immoral Tales", the blending of the genuinely erotic with a very dark undercurrent of death and fate were however quite beautiful. The stunning visuals did not need American special effects (and predictability) to convey absolutely unforgettable images. I recommend this with the highest and richest enthusiasm. Hunt this down. On a trip to Europe if need be. And, if you can, bother some distributors to translate this and get it out to the English speaking world.I won't spoil the plot anymore... you must see it for your self. Gulag.