In Zdeněk Tyc’s compelling chamber drama, the end of summer also spells the end of a life.

Painter Vladimír Holas (Jiří Schmitzer) is dying. He doesn’t want to die in a hospital, so his country home is his last resort. Two women are with him: Karla (Petra Špalková), younger, a bohemian and a painter like Vladimír, and the older Jaruna (Taťjana Medvecká), a nurse, his former lover and very different from Vladimír and Karla. All three wage futile wars against death, against themselves, and amongst themselves.

Winner of Czech Lions for Jiří Schmitzer and Petra Špalková’s superb performances, Like Never Before sugarcoats nothing: dying is no easy matter and caring for a dying person – not least an irascible artist – can be quite an ordeal.