AlbertCinefilu Review of Closely Watched Trains

Closely Watched Trains (1966)

The scene with the stamp left a stamp on my mind

[8/10 · 8 March 2023]

There is a unique eroticism in this Czech movie that doesn't fail to delight me. I could watch it over and over again and it's sensuality would not fade away. And that eroticism can be easily felt in one particular scene where a train dispatcher conducts a seductive, playful experiment on a woman smitten by him: the woman lies on the table, while the dispatcher takes a stamp and gently blows on it (stamps were not self-adhesive back then, and they had to be moistened before being affixed to an envelope). Then, he gently stamps her on the thigh, puts the stamp back, slowly takes another one, repeats the same gentle blowing, and stamps the lady a bit higher on the thigh this time. For the last stamping, he also requires the woman to gently blow the stamp with her lips and... I won't spoil this very last move but most of you might have already guessed the location of the last stamp. The consequences of this game will generate a certain dramatic tension and comedic opportunities for a great part of the rest of the movie. My favorite scene, among the one where Milos starts to run after Masha's train, trying to metaphorically diminish the distance between them and ,,catch up'' with her on a romantic level.