An international conference being held in Prague invites Lauren Graham, an American child psychiatrist, to participate. She is a woman of a certain age, a scholar about the effects of what war does to children, with a no-nonsense attitude. She is surprised when a Czech writer, Jiri Kolmar, gets interested in showing her around the city. Passing an old Jewish cemetery, Lauren mentions in passing she might have relatives buried there. Jiri, who is Jewish, becomes intrigued by the fact her Jewish grandfather, Emil Kuvan, born in Czechoslovakia, and emigrated to America might have relatives who died in the concentration camps. Offering to take Lauren to the national registry she is told the only Emil Kuvan in the records was a child who died in one of the camps.
Jiri, who feels attracted to Lauren, is a divorced man being considered to a high position in the culture ministry. One day, while visiting Jiri's grandfather, Lauren notices Jiri's son with a greyhound that is the family's dog. She pulls a picture of her late grandfather to show him with his own greyhound, and the old man recoils in horror. The man in the picture he recognizes as a Nazi criminal, responsible for the death of Jews. Lauren is appalled as well. Being a public figure Lauren's finding is leaked to the press by opponents of Jiri's to assume the position he was offered. Lauren decides to go home to deal with what she learned in Prague.
This is a romantic film with a twist. Directed by Robert Simon, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sheryl Longin, it presents a plausible story in which two people who meet and fall in love, then find a horrible truth neither had dreamed it could come between them. The atrocities of a bygone era will always stay with the ones that suffered the most, in this case, Jiri's father who saw his family destroyed by the Nazi regime. The film ends in a positive note as Lauren appears she got over the awful truth she learned.
Gina Gershon makes a wonderful Lauren. Ms. Gershon deserves better roles than what she has been getting lately. She is a good presence in any film she graces. Same can be said about the male lead Rade Zerbedzija, who is a welcome presence on the screen. The film was shot in dark tones as befitting the winter in Prague, caught for the camera by Ivan Slapeta. Boris Zelkin is the composer of the score which works well with the narrative.
Jiri, who feels attracted to Lauren, is a divorced man being considered to a high position in the culture ministry. One day, while visiting Jiri's grandfather, Lauren notices Jiri's son with a greyhound that is the family's dog. She pulls a picture of her late grandfather to show him with his own greyhound, and the old man recoils in horror. The man in the picture he recognizes as a Nazi criminal, responsible for the death of Jews. Lauren is appalled as well. Being a public figure Lauren's finding is leaked to the press by opponents of Jiri's to assume the position he was offered. Lauren decides to go home to deal with what she learned in Prague.
This is a romantic film with a twist. Directed by Robert Simon, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sheryl Longin, it presents a plausible story in which two people who meet and fall in love, then find a horrible truth neither had dreamed it could come between them. The atrocities of a bygone era will always stay with the ones that suffered the most, in this case, Jiri's father who saw his family destroyed by the Nazi regime. The film ends in a positive note as Lauren appears she got over the awful truth she learned.
Gina Gershon makes a wonderful Lauren. Ms. Gershon deserves better roles than what she has been getting lately. She is a good presence in any film she graces. Same can be said about the male lead Rade Zerbedzija, who is a welcome presence on the screen. The film was shot in dark tones as befitting the winter in Prague, caught for the camera by Ivan Slapeta. Boris Zelkin is the composer of the score which works well with the narrative.