Who do you entrust with a greater share of responsibility – an underage teenage girl or a middle-aged man who is the father of two children?

God Šebek:

– He scolds Michal and tolerates him when his sister makes fun of him

– in her nervousness, she has no problem telling him “I’ll kill you, you bastard”, she chases him and threatens him publicly in front of people after finding out that there was a conflict with the teacher Sasha. He is not interested in asking his son first how the situation went.

– he also immediately attacks Michal after Uzlinka mocked him for his broken heart. Michal’s personal feelings are in the last place in the family, behind the feelings of his sister and adults…

– never asks how Michal is, how he feels

– When Uncle Václav comes to the apartment and to the scene, he addresses Michal as “young man!”, gives him his own hat and scarf for fun, and asks him to sing a carol for fun. Michal starts to sing out of recession, but his father slaps him in the face and immediately declares that this joke is a political provocation. As a result, Uncle Václav from this moment on pays attention only to his brother and the others for the rest of the film. Maybe he understands that any positive attention to Michal could upset his brother?

– Michal’s parents should be there for him and help him, not a teenage girl who feels awkward and doesn’t know what to do for him.

Henry:

– never mocks or scolds Michal (unlike Michal’s sister and father)

– after Michal’s first suicide attempt, he helps him out of pieces of wood and makes a small remark, suggesting that it is not worth it ("what are you talking about")

– brings him a poster, a gift from Elien as an apology

– openly laughs at the teacher when Michal defends himself – the teacher who tried to mock him for not having a girlfriend

– Jindriška and Elien are obviously trying to be friends with Michal, but the fact that they are dating and know about his interest in Jindriška complicates their relationship. Moreover, like his sister, they are still minors, so neither the two of them, nor Uzlinka, can guess what Michal needs.

– when Michal called her boyfriend just like that, for no reason, a bum, she looks at Michal and gives him the opportunity to take it back. He does like nothing. So Elien learns that Michal is spreading something about him that was not considered acceptable at the time, it could also lead to the fact that Elien could be attacked by homophobic thugs….so both Elien, a teenager, and his adolescent girlfriend at that moment are of course a bit hungry for revenge…..
Michal first got a chance to apologize to Elien. Instead, he lied: That’s what Jiřina said!…

– Jindřiška does not react very actively to Michal’s suicide attempts – because she is an underage teenager with zero education on how to react. Even in 2001, we barely had any information about what to do when our friends tried to kill themselves.

– is named after her father, who makes it clear to her that she doesn’t deserve his love as much as a boy would
She is a minor child with an abusive father in the 60’s who has barely any information on how to deal with her father’s suicides and trauma….her own parents teach her daily that throwing objects and being called a whore(slut) is like a normal everyday thing…..