Štěstí (2005)

The young Tonda accompanies Monika as she takes her boyfriend to the airport; he is going to America to work there. Tonda lives with his aunt in his grandfather’s old, dilapidated house. His parents do not understand his “alternative lifestyle” and are also worried because Tonda is still alone. Tonda and Monika have been friends since childhood, which they spent in the same apartment block. His parents still live there, as does Monika, who lives with her parents. In the same stairwell lives Dáša, an old friend of Monika’s, with her two young sons. Dáša has no control over her life—she neglects her children, and her apartment is falling into disrepair. She is attractive, but apparently has trouble keeping men around for long. Monika increasingly takes care of the children and gets Tonda involved too, bringing the two of them closer. Monika’s mother is skeptical about this, however: she urges Monika to follow her boyfriend to America, where he has already arranged a job for her. Monika has put this off because she feels responsible for Dáša’s children. When Dáša’s mental state worsens and she is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Monika takes her children in, and the conflict with her mother escalates. Monika then moves out and eventually accepts Tonda’s offer to move in with him and his aunt—the children already feel at home there, and the aunt is glad to have new life in the house. Tonda, who is increasingly falling in love with Monika and growing into a kind of fatherly role, now makes an effort to renovate the old house, even agreeing to work at the factory he hates. His happiness is short-lived: his aunt develops cancer with no hope of recovery, and Dáša, discharged from treatment, takes her children back. Freed from her responsibility, Monika now has to make a decision. Tonda tells her he cannot bear the thought of her staying with him only out of pity, so she flies to America. The aunt advises him not to stay alone in the house and to sell it to the factory. When Monika returns, the house is in the process of being demolished. No one knows where Tonda is. Monika gets on a train and sets off into the unknown.