Marketa Lazarová is a 1967 Czechoslovak New Wave epic period drama[5] film directed by František Vláčil.

Set in the middle of 13th century when Christianity was taking over native Paganism in Central Europe, the film tells the story of a daughter of a feudal lord who is kidnapped by neighbouring robber knights shortly before she is to join a convent .

During a harsh winter, two sons of Kozlík, a robber clan leader, ambush a group traveling to Mladá Boleslav.

Mikoláš, one of the sons, finds a neighboring clan leader, Lazar, scavenging the site of the ambush.

At their settlement, named Roháček, Kozlík chastises Mikoláš for bringing captives and sparing Lazar.

His anger increases when the other son, Adam, reveals that the nobleman's father escaped, raising the possibility that the king's soldiers might come to Roháček.

Lazar and Marketa visit the convent and make arrangements to enroll her at winter's end.

Returning their settlement, they find it captured by Mikoláš and his men, who kill Lazar's mentally disabled son.

Bernard, a wandering priest, happens upon Lazar's settlement, where the captain's soldiers knock him out and steal his sheep.

In a flashback we learn that Alexandra and Adam previously engaged in incest, during which he was bitten by a venomous snake on the arm.

Kozlik chopped off Adam's arm to give him a chance to survive but otherwise left the siblings' fate to the gods, telling Alexandra that if he died she would be killed.

In the present, Bernard wanders to Kozlik's fortification, where he eats his own sheep for a meal, learning this only afterward.

When the captain's regiment arrives at the stronghold with Adam, Kozlík allows Mikolas to join the others back inside.

He stumbles away beaten while a dream-like flashback shows him explaining his love for Alexandra and their future child to his dismayed father.

Kristian reaches Roháček calling out for Alexandra, finds the settlement partially burned down and abandoned with the exception for Bernard, and wanders away.

In a trance-like state, she travels to the nunnery and begins to take her vows just as Mikoláš attempts to free Kozlík from the Boleslav dungeon.

She leaves the ceremony to find Mikoláš dying in the castle courtyard from wounds suffered in the attempt.

Brother Bernard finds Marketa in the wilderness and offers to travel with her in search of a new life.

The film is set in medieval Bohemia at a time when Christianity had not fully replaced Paganism.

[10][11] Similarly, the romance between Markéta and Mikoláš, who rapes her but later protects and loves her, represents a meeting of purity and innocence with worldly violence.

The film was shot at multiple places in the current Czech Republic such as Lánská obora, Mrtvý luh and Klokočín Castle.

The expensiveness of the film was one of the reasons for making The Valley of the Bees in which Vláčil used costumes and decorations intended for Marketa Lazarová.

In 2015, Petr Ostrouch was permitted by Liška's descendants to make a concert of music from Marketa Lazarová.

[26] The film includes some elements from Obrazy z dějin národa českého that weren't present in the Marketa Lazarová novel.

The character of Monk Bernard and the unrealised Royal Pictures originate from Obrazy z dějin národa českého.

Vašáryová stated that she was moved by the number of young people who expressed interest in the film.

It was financed by the Czech Ministry of Culture and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Marketa Lazarová won the survey and received 344 votes, beating films such as The Firemen's Ball and Daisies.

The reason for his dissatisfaction was the failure to realise Royal Pictures as he believed that it was a pivotal part of the film.

He praised that it managed to show the lyrical side of the novel, but noted that the medieval reality of the novel is in clear contrast with a theatrical environment.