Rondo (film)

Rondo is a 1966 Yugoslavian film by Croatian director Zvonimir Berković. It was filmed in Zagreb, Croatia (then a part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

Plot

The film's plot centers on a love triangle between Neda (Milena Dravić, right), Fedja (Relja Bašić, center) and Mladen (Stevo Žigon, right).

"Every Sunday, the lonely bachelor and sophisticated judge Mladen (Stevo Žigon) comes to play chess with his friend, the sculptor Fedja (Relja Bašić), and gradually he falls into an affair with Fedja's wife Neda (Milena Dravić). The chess board is the center of the film, the moves mirroring the emotional developments of the characters."^[1]

Background and themes

Produced in 1966, Rondo was the first full-length film by former musician and screenwriter Zvonimir Berković, screenwriter of H-8, a famous Croatian 1950s classic. In both films, he uses musical form as a source for the narrative. As in Mozart's Rondo (which is repeatedly played in the soundtrack) in Berković's film the basic situation - Sunday afternoon chess party - is repeated with small variations, slowly bringing the three character towards a crisis. Very formal, very intimistic and set in a cosy middle-class environment, Rondo was very different from previous Yugoslav film tradition, introducing aesthetic of the modernist psychological novel into Croatian cinema.

Reception

Rondo is still considered as one of three biggest classics of Croatian 1960s modernism.

In 1999, a poll of Croatian film critics found it to be one of the best Croatian films ever made.^[2]

Cast

• Relja Bašić – Fedja
• Stevo Žigon – Mladen
• Milena Dravić – Neda
• Zvonimir Rogoz
• Boris Festini
• Rudolf Kukić

Awards

For her portrayal of Neda, Milena Dravić won a Silver Arena Award for "Best Actress" at the (1966) Pula Film Festival.

See also

• List of Yugoslavian films

References

External links

• Rondo at the Internet Movie Database
• Rondo at Filmski-Programi.hr (Croatian)
• Rondo entry in Filmski leksikon