I "Of Family Joys": Pavel Stasny plays the part of a father; he makes his nubile brunette daughter strip naked in the kitchen for a hard and long caning, including attention to her thighs. She kneels naked on dried peas. A guy hides in the closet watching and pays Pavel for that privilege when he leaves. Pavel in turn forks over the money to the brunette (minus commission?), whose bottom is apparently for rent. The girl next door pops in and witnesses.
II "Of Lost Honor": Head Forester (Jan Zlatousty) pulls his naked "daughter" out of bed with a guy and lays a belt on her bare bottom like only he can do. If you are an actress, you have to hope you do not see his name on the cast list. He is a legendary wicker spanker in the CP genre. The little blonde pops in here too.
III "Of Those Who Buy and Sell...and the Mills of Justice": Actress Alexandra Wolf shops in the store we have already seen, accompanied by a young blonde in blouse, long skirt, and straw boater. Alexandra buys a cane and is going to whip the girl right there in the store to test the cane. Skirt up, bloomers down, bare bottom; a rousing caning, full wheals on the blond bottom, the shopkeeper is delighted and holds the poor girl still. The little blonde pops in to witness this excitement.
The final scene is filmed through a gauzy filter, suggesting foggy sleep for our little blonde, who is in fact dreaming about her bottom being caned.
The film consists of three unrelated chapters or vignettes loosely connected
by the silly device of having the titular "girl next door" (Trmotova) jump
in unexpectedly on some flimsy pretense just before the punishments begin.
She is also the niece of the shopkeeper, but takes no active part in any of
the stories. So why is the film named after her? That is the first of a
thousand unanswered questions in this muddled mish-mash.
Set in the 1900s, a shopkeeper (Rejnek) sells some food to a Mrs. Vavrova,
who then leaves (more on her at the end). Then he and his niece nod at each
other knowingly and she leaves. But what does it mean?
First vignette: "Of Family Joys" has an angry father (Stastny) giving his
naked daughter a vigorous 40-stroke caning. Just before the first cane
stroke falls, Trmotova bursts into the room asking to borrow a cup of
sugar(!) It is obvious she really wants to watch the caning but is
immediately tossed out -- making her entrance all the more absurd. The
daughter (Katarina Zizkova) is a tad chubby, but her superb grapefruit sized
breasts make up for it. Nice touch at the end with her kneeling on a pile
of dried peas. Also a twist ending I won't give away here.
Second chapter: "Of Lost Honor" - another father catches his lovely blond
daughter in bed with her boyfriend and thrashes her hard with his belt (the
usual 40 stroke Lupus minimum). She is played by the absolutely gorgeous
Magdalena Malenova (what a face!). Just before the strapping begins,
however, Trmotova once again bursts into the room pretending to be the maid.
Again, she is just as quickly thrown out before the punishment begins.
In the third chapter: "Of Those Who Buy and Sell", a stern governess
(Alexandra Wolf) buys a cane from the shopkeeper to use on her charge
"Hortenzie" (Vendula Steinova). The shopkeeper mutters some vague,
suggestive nonsense to the governess who rolls her eyes and seems to fall
under his spell. She agrees to test the cane out by whipping Hortenzie
there in the store. Right on cue, the niece suddenly rushes in wanting to
watch the proceedings. For the third time she is sent away, taking a
package to "you know where" (no explanation given).
The caning is rather clumsy and unsatisfying with too much squirming and
struggling, plus the girl's dress keeps getting in the way. A change in
positon over a barrel -- the shopkeeper gallantly helps hold the girl down
-- is better, but it's not quite enough.
After the women leave, the shopkeeper lights a candle by blowing on it,
suggesting he has magical powers. Fade to a brief, off-the-wall misty dream
sequence with the niece and a mysterious lady in black holding a cane. She
orders the niece to pull down her skirt and bend over. But before anything
happens, we fade back to the shop with Mrs. Vavrova from the opener
returning to the store. She has changed her mind about buying some coffee
as if only a moment has passed by. So the whole thing was simply the
shopkeeper's dream? What's the point of any of this? And what about the
niece's dream? Does she even exist? Why did she pop into each fantasy
segment? He stares at Vavrova blankly as if he's as bewildered as we are.
So there you have it -- more incoherent nonsense from the industry's most
eccentric filmmakers. They had a vaguely "magical" concept but no clue
regarding logic, context or story structure. Any hack writer with half a
brain could have done better. At least the production, sets, costumes,
etc., remains top-notch, but the screenplays at Lupus need more quality
control.
Final Note: The lovely Alexandra Wolf, who also works behind the scenes, is
such an elegant beauty with great presence. It is a shame we don't see more
of her on screen in meatier roles. (She usually plays bit parts.) And
she's only played the victim once in a very exciting caning scene in "Stalin
II". One can only hope Lupus will make better use of this lovely redhead.
