Stendhal: Prison of Parma

The Prison of Parma is set in Italy, which Stendhal knew well, loved and in many ways placed above his true homeland. The young Italian nobleman Fabricio del Dongo, as the second-born son of a marquis, is destined for the priesthood. However, he admires Napoleon and longs for military glory, taking part in the Napoleonic Wars. However, the experience of a real battle soon robs him of all his previous illusions about the noble art of war. He returns to Italy and, under the protection of his charming aunt, the Duchess of Sanseverino, begins to move around the court of Prince Ernest IV of Parma. He uses his personal charms aimlessly to embark on many amorous adventures that eventually lead him to the prison of Parma. He is sentenced to 12 years in the most guarded cell of the entire Farnese Fortress for killing his brother-in-law in a duel, where he falls in love with the daughter of the prison commander, the charming Clelia de Conti. But their love ends tragically. Stendhal's last great novel was dramatised in 1976 by Rudolf Ráž, directed by Miroslava Valová and starring Alfréd Strejček, Věra Galatíková, Jana Drbohlava, Rudolf Ráž, Karolína Slunéčková, Josef Patočka, Čestmír Řanda, Daniela Hlaváčová, Artur Šviha, Alois Švehlík.