Zelary is a 2003 film from the Czech Republic, directed by Ondřej Trojan.
1943, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia—in other words, the Czech half of Czechoslovakia, under occupation by the Nazis. Eliska is a nurse (she was a med student before the medical school closed) in Prague. She works alongside Richard, a surgeon, who is also her lover. When Eliska and Richard aren't having sex or working in the hospital, they are members of the Czech resistance.
One night Richard is called in to operate on Joza, a sawmill worker from the countryside who has been badly wounded in an accident at the mill. They save him, thanks in part to Eliska donating some blood.
Soon after, Eliska is sent to deliver a letter for La Résistance, only to find the Gestapo crawling all over the apartment building where she was supposed to meet her contact. She narrowly avoids arrest, then returns only for her Resistance contact Slavek to tell her that their Resistance cell has been broken by the Gestapo. Richard has fled the Protectorate, and Eliska must leave as well, immediately. He gives her false papers and a new identity with the fake name of "Hana", and tells her that she must leave Prague for the countryside, in the company of Joza the mill worker. As his wife.
Tropes:
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: The Gestapo agent whom Eliska encounters on the stairs is "Gestapo agent" to a T, with a leather trenchcoat and a fedora. He even greets her in German with "Guten morgen." Of course, the Gestapo is searching the apartment building so they have no need for stealth.
- Dead Guy on Display: A German specialty. Eliska sees a squad of Nazis forcing a terrified woman through the forest at gunpoint. She then sees a burnt-out cottage, turns, and sees the bodies of a man and two boys hanging from a tree.
- Distant Finale: At least ten years later (judging by the make of the car) Eliska returns to the village, once again with Richard. The old cottage she shared with Joza is now a crumbling ruin, but she's happy to find Lucka the midwife still alive, and they laugh together as the film ends.
- Fish out of Water: Eliska—tall, good-looking, fashionably dressed, city girl—does not fit in very well in Zelary where most of the women are short and squat and all the townspeople are simply-dressed peasants. She's further thrown for a loop when Joza takes her home to a cottage that has neither electricity nor indoor plumbing.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Joza tells Eliska, "I'd like to show you to my mother. I'd like to tell her I'm married." Eliska is caught by surprise, and she's probably surprised again in the next scene when they are visiting his mother's grave.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: The local fascist militia comes by one day to register "Hana" as a new citizen of the village. They check her (fake) documents, give her a ration book, and leave politely. After they're gone she takes a long pull from the bottle of vodka on the table.
- Lethal Chef: Eliska makes Joza some sort of unappetizing potato mash concoction, then sheepisly says "I'm not used to the stove." Joza dutifully eats some, then puts some down for the dog—and the dog takes a pass.
- Marriage Before Romance: Joza and Eliska, total strangers to each other, get married because Eliska needs a place to hide immediately. Naturally, they fall in love.
- The Place: Zelary, Joza's home town, where Eliska is sent on zero notice to live.
- Rape as Drama: The Soviet troops that "liberate" the village get rapey the next morning under the influence of alcohol. A soldier tries to rape Marie, which leads to an outbreak of shooting in the town when Old Gorelik shoots him; another soldier does rape Zena.
- La Résistance: Only in the opening scenes, in which Eliska attempts to deliver a letter for the Resistance only to nearly get arrested. The rest of the film has her living under false papers in the countryside, as a mill worker's wife.
- Shotgun Wedding: An unusual spin on this trope. Eliska is forced to marry Joza immediately, not because she is pregnant, but because she needs a place to hide from the Gestapo, and there is no other way that the citizens of the village will accept her.
- Shower Scene: There's a crude shower in the sawmill, which Eliska uses, in a scene that isn't very sexy as Michel barges in and tries to rape her. Joza saves her and gives Michel a beating.
- Table Space: The awkwardness between Joza and Eliska on their first night at home together is demonstrated when they sit in silence, on opposite sides of the stove.
- Tempting Fate: As Richard and Slavek are drilling Eliska on security precautions on how to deliver her letter—wait for the sound of the vacuum cleaner, enter at 5:03 exactly—she does a mental eye-roll and says everything is perfectly safe. She tells them "It's getting boring, gentlemen." Then she arrives at the apartment building only to find the Gestapo already in it.
- There Is Only One Bed: There is only one bed in Joza's cottage, which is why he crawls into it on his and Eliska's second night together, explaining that the bench is uncomfortable. She clutches a pair of scissors under her pillow, but he stays on his side.
- Time Skip: Major time skips from the opening part of the film, spring 1943, to Christmas 1943, then another to the spring of 1945 and the final act as the Red Army arrives.
- Toplessness from the Back: Eliska on her first night in Joza's cottage, as she changes for bed. Besides being fanservice it emphasizes her vulnerability, in a strange home with a man she doesn't know.
