At the beginning was the Slovak television series Lekár umierajúceho czasu (Doctor of Dying Time), dedicated to the Rudolphine-era scientist Jan Jesenius. He ended up on the scaffold along with other gentlemen after losing the anti-Habsburg uprising. When director Miloslav Luther conceived the idea of making an abridged version of the footage for cinema, he had to not only rebuild the storyline but also dub it into Czech. However, the result was only an illustrative puzzle, describing the various stages of the hero's turbulent life.
Petr Čepek
as Jan Jesenius
Emma Černá
as Maria
Rudolf Hrušínský
as Rudolf II.
Miloš Nedbal
as Fels
Martin Huba
as Johannes Kepler
Milan Kňažko
as Jan Mydlář
Leoš Suchařípa
as Pavel Michna z Vacínova
Táňa Fischerová
as Floro
Jan Kačer
as Jáchym Ondřej Šlik
Stano Dančiak
as Kryštof Harant z Polžic a Bezdružic
Mikuláš Huba
as Bohuslav z Michalovic
Ota Sklenčka
as Václav Budovec z Budova
