Kamenák (2003, Czech Republic)

This film is a weak comedy, much criticised for its political incorrectness; all the men are womanisers or criminals or both; but it contains a performance by a first-class Czech female impersonator, Libor Landa.

We follow a week -- actually Tuesday to Saturday -- in the life of a small town in rural South Bohemia, starting with the local police chief Pepa and his wife Vilma, who works as a secretary at the local school, and his two children, Julie and nine-year-old Pepicek. The school principal gropes Vilma in his office much of the time. Soon we see a rather stout Mother Superior (Vaclav Glazar) and it gradually becomes obvious that it is a gangster running the convent as a cover for petty crooks and deserters from the army; the men hide out in nuns' costumes, and don't take much care about pretending to be female.

A young man called Adam (played by Libor Landa) turns up at the school applying for a job as a teacher, but the principal turns him down. Adam comes back later transformed into a very good looking and well dressed woman, calling himself Eva, and the principal takes him on as a female teacher immediately, of course without suspecting anything.

The teenage students find Eva a very congenial teacher, and all goes well (and the film follows several other sub-plots) until the police chief's wife is driving to work one day and at a pedestrian crossing, she accidentally runs Eva down.

They take Eva home, and the daughter Julie tries to comfort her, but pretty quickly discovers Eva's false boobs and male genitalia, and instantly falls in love -- with Adam.

Eva seems to have made a recovery, and later we see Julie and Eva -- of course really Adam -- kissing in the park; but a passing soldier discovers this apparently lesbian activity. Adam decides to make a clean, ahem, breast of it, and takes Eva's usual class dressed fully as Eva, but then undresses and transforms back to Adam in front of the whole class; at first the male students lick their lips with relish, but when all is revealed, everyone seems to appreciate the deception and they all applaud.

HF August 2008

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