The Fox Dance (Liščí Tanec)

Forty-two years after the death of her youngest son during a game involving a stuffed fox, a mother gathers her three adult children in the isolated house where the tragedy occurred. The reappearance of the old toy reopens buried guilt and conflicting versions of the past.

In the summer of 1975, in an isolated forest house, five-year-old Prokop Foret dies. The incident is recorded as an accident while he was playing with his older siblings. The family accepts this version and chooses silence. The episode remains buried for decades.

Forty-two years later, in 2017, the mother, Hermína Foretová—now in her eighties and recovering from illness—gathers her three remaining children in that same place under the pretext of celebrating her birthday. But the visit is not innocent: Hermína wants to return to the scene of the trauma and force a reunion that never truly happened.

From the very first day, the shared living situation reactivates childhood hierarchies. Hynek, now a prestigious university professor, remains dominant, cold, and manipulative. Cyril, his twin brother, marked by depression, alcoholism, and a life defined by failure, slips back into the role of the weak one. Gita, the eldest, a doctor, tries to hold everyone together and preserve an appearance of normality.

The reappearance of Prokop’s old stuffed fox acts as a trigger. The object pulls the siblings back into the so-called “fox dance,” a cruel game inspired by a historical practice in which animals were thrown into the air for amusement. Through arguments, fragmented memories, and scenes from the past bleeding into the present, the truth begins to emerge.

In 1975, Hynek deliberately set a trap for his younger brother. He hung the stuffed fox in the bunker the children had built in a tree, forcing Prokop to climb up and retrieve it. The boy fell from a height and died. Cyril witnessed part of the sequence and always knew it had not been an accident, but he was silenced by family dynamics and by the collective need to protect the brilliant son.

The one who ultimately reconstructs what happened is Hubert, the siblings’ uncle and owner of the forest house. Mentally unstable and obsessed with the past, Hubert concludes that Hynek killed Prokop. Convinced that justice must be done, he decides to avenge him.

Back in the city, Hynek receives a package he interprets as a gesture of reconciliation from his brother Cyril: it contains a childhood toy, an apparently affectionate note, and a flask presented as vodka. Trustingly, Hynek drinks, unaware that the alcohol has been adulterated with methanol.

Although Hynek suffers severe poisoning and is hospitalized, he survives. Shortly afterward, however, he is run over one night and dies. Officially, it is ruled a traffic accident, but his death follows the poisoning attempt and occurs amid an evident chain of reprisals.

Eventually, Hubert confesses. He prepared the methanol package, convinced he was fulfilling the will of the deceased father and punishing the guilty son. Hubert is committed to a psychiatric institution.

The consequences are irreversible. Hermína loses two sons and is forced to confront the outcome of decades of denial. Cyril survives, burdened by the guilt of having remained silent his entire life. Gita remains the only functional pillar of a destroyed family, aware that their fragile stability had been sustained for forty years by a lie.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Lenka Chalupová is a Czech writer and journalist whose work has reached a broad readership thanks to her blend of historical fiction and mystery. Since her debut, she has published more than a dozen titles combining dramatic and investigative plots with a deep connection to the country’s history. She has been recognized with the Olomouc District Literature Award, underscoring both her narrative quality and her impact on the contemporary Czech literary scene.

The Fox Dance is a psychological thriller that combines family drama and mystery. With a non-linear structure, the story unfolds in a closed and isolated setting that reinforces an unsettling and claustrophobic tone. A small cast of characters, a powerful central location, and an unforgettable symbolic object—the stuffed fox—sustain mounting tension through to the final resolution.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Czech.