I Served the King of England (film)
Encyclopedia
I Served the King of England is a 2006 Czech
film, directed by Jiří Menzel
and based on the novel by Bohumil Hrabal
. This film is Menzel's sixth adaptation of the works of Hrabal for film. The film was released in the UK and in the US in 2008.
At one point during his reminiscences, a young woman, Marcela, and her older traveling companion, a professor, settle in the area. Jan and Marcela develop a mutual attraction, although it remains physically unconsumated. The movie continues to alternate between past and present, as the relationship between the older Jan and the new neighbors develops.
In the restaurant, the younger Jan has a number of affairs with various women, including an actress and a prostitute at a brothel. He also gradually moves into more socially prestigious work settings, including a stint at a spa, the Hotel Tichota, where he has an affair with a maid there. Jan eventually finds employment in Prague at the Hotel Paříž, where he falls under the tutelage of the Maître d', Skřivánek, who claims that he once served the King of England. Eventually, Jan serves the Emperor of Ethiopia at one occasion. The Emperor tries to award a medal to Skřivánek, but because he is short in height, cannot place the award around Skřivánek's neck. Jan is short enough for the Emperor to reach, and maneuvers into place to receive the medal in place of Skřivánek.
With the annexation of Czechoslovakia during the Third Reich, Jan falls in love with Liza, a young German Sudetenland
woman who worships Adolf Hitler
. She agrees to marry him only after he proves that he is of pure Aryan descent through medical examination. During the occupation, the other waiters and the hotel manager, Brandejs, express their contempt for the German occupiers by trying to be as unhelpful in their service as possible. Jan is the only member of the waitstaff not to express symbolic resistance in this manner. Brandejs dismisses Jan for this reason, and says that Jan will be blacklisted from employment in any Prague establishment. When Jan and Liza later appear as patrons, and after Jan mocks Skřivánek that serving the King of England has done him no good in life, Skřivánek pours food over Jan in protest. Eventually, Skřivánek is taken away by the occupying authorities and never seen again.
During World War II, Jan works in an institute, formerly the Hotel Tichota, where German women reside to breed a new "master race" with selected soldiers. Because the owner, Mr Tichota, uses a wheelchair, he has been displaced as its owner and is never seen again. In the meantime, Liza serves as a nurse on the Russian front. She returns with valuable stamps taken from the homes of Polish-Jewish families. As the war progresses and the tide turns against the German, the women are displaced from the facility, and wounded and amputee soldiers replace them. Near the end of the war, the facility is attacked, and the soldiers and staff evacuated. Liza tries to retrieve the stamps to use after the war, but dies when the roof of the hospital collapses. Jan finds Liza's body with her holding the box of stamps, and pries them from her hands. After the war, the stamps' value allows Jan to become a wealthy hotelier, in the same Hotel Tichota premises.
After the Communists take power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Jan loses his property and wealth when he tells the Communist resistance that he himself is a millionaire. He is sentenced to prison for 15 years: one year for each million of his fortune. In prison he sees that Brandejs and the other formerly wealthy customers are prisoners. Jan tries to sit among them, but they exclude him from their circle.
Marcela and the professor leave the area. Jan completes the restoration of his home and finally releases the stamps by letting the winds blow them into the valley.
reported that 80% of critics rated the film positively based on 71 reviews, with a consensus of "With charm and an eye for life's bittersweet moments, Czech New Wave master Jiri Menzel paints a picaresque story with whimsy and intellect." Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 72 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating a generally favorable response.
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor
named it the 6th best film of 2008, and Dennis Harvey of Variety
named it the 8th best film of 2008.
It received the Gopo Award
for Best European Film in 2009, meaning it was the European film which achieved the best box office
success in Romania
in 2008.
Cinema of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic was a seedbed for many acclaimed film directors.Three Czech/Czechoslovak movies that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film were The Shop on Main Street by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos in 1965, Closely Watched Trains by Jiří Menzel in 1967 and...
film, directed by Jiří Menzel
Jirí Menzel
Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...
and based on the novel by Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal was a Czech writer, regarded as one of the best writers of the 20th century.- Life and work :...
. This film is Menzel's sixth adaptation of the works of Hrabal for film. The film was released in the UK and in the US in 2008.
Plot
Jan Dítě has been released from a Czech prison just before the very end of his 15-year sentence and is settling in a town near the border between Czechoslovakia and Germany. He occupies his time with rebuilding a deserted house, and begins to recall his past, where he says that his main wish in life was to be a millionaire. Jan begins his career as a frankfurter vendor at a railroad station, and quickly learns the power of money and the influence it exerts over people.At one point during his reminiscences, a young woman, Marcela, and her older traveling companion, a professor, settle in the area. Jan and Marcela develop a mutual attraction, although it remains physically unconsumated. The movie continues to alternate between past and present, as the relationship between the older Jan and the new neighbors develops.
In the restaurant, the younger Jan has a number of affairs with various women, including an actress and a prostitute at a brothel. He also gradually moves into more socially prestigious work settings, including a stint at a spa, the Hotel Tichota, where he has an affair with a maid there. Jan eventually finds employment in Prague at the Hotel Paříž, where he falls under the tutelage of the Maître d', Skřivánek, who claims that he once served the King of England. Eventually, Jan serves the Emperor of Ethiopia at one occasion. The Emperor tries to award a medal to Skřivánek, but because he is short in height, cannot place the award around Skřivánek's neck. Jan is short enough for the Emperor to reach, and maneuvers into place to receive the medal in place of Skřivánek.
With the annexation of Czechoslovakia during the Third Reich, Jan falls in love with Liza, a young German Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
woman who worships Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. She agrees to marry him only after he proves that he is of pure Aryan descent through medical examination. During the occupation, the other waiters and the hotel manager, Brandejs, express their contempt for the German occupiers by trying to be as unhelpful in their service as possible. Jan is the only member of the waitstaff not to express symbolic resistance in this manner. Brandejs dismisses Jan for this reason, and says that Jan will be blacklisted from employment in any Prague establishment. When Jan and Liza later appear as patrons, and after Jan mocks Skřivánek that serving the King of England has done him no good in life, Skřivánek pours food over Jan in protest. Eventually, Skřivánek is taken away by the occupying authorities and never seen again.
During World War II, Jan works in an institute, formerly the Hotel Tichota, where German women reside to breed a new "master race" with selected soldiers. Because the owner, Mr Tichota, uses a wheelchair, he has been displaced as its owner and is never seen again. In the meantime, Liza serves as a nurse on the Russian front. She returns with valuable stamps taken from the homes of Polish-Jewish families. As the war progresses and the tide turns against the German, the women are displaced from the facility, and wounded and amputee soldiers replace them. Near the end of the war, the facility is attacked, and the soldiers and staff evacuated. Liza tries to retrieve the stamps to use after the war, but dies when the roof of the hospital collapses. Jan finds Liza's body with her holding the box of stamps, and pries them from her hands. After the war, the stamps' value allows Jan to become a wealthy hotelier, in the same Hotel Tichota premises.
After the Communists take power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Jan loses his property and wealth when he tells the Communist resistance that he himself is a millionaire. He is sentenced to prison for 15 years: one year for each million of his fortune. In prison he sees that Brandejs and the other formerly wealthy customers are prisoners. Jan tries to sit among them, but they exclude him from their circle.
Marcela and the professor leave the area. Jan completes the restoration of his home and finally releases the stamps by letting the winds blow them into the valley.
Cast
- Ivan Barnev as Jan Dítě, as a young man
- Kyle Kahunt, the King of England
- Oldrich Kaiser as Jan Dítě, as an older man
- Julia JentschJulia JentschJulia Jentsch is a Silver Bear, two-time European Film Award, and Lola winning German actress. She is best known as the title character in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, Jule in The Edukators and, Liza in I Served the King of England.-Career:Jentsch was born to a family of lawyers in Berlin and...
as Liza - Martin HubaMartin HubaMartin Huba is a Slovak actor and director on stage and in film.In 1964 he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava . He joined the Východoslovenské štátne divadlo in Košice. In 1967 he moved to the theater Divadlo na Korze in Bratislava, where he remained till its closure in...
as Skřivánek - Marian LabudaMarián LabudaMarián Labuda is a Slovak actor.In 1964 he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava . He became member of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava. In 1967 he moved to the theatre Divadlo na Korze in the same city. Following its closure in 1971 he joined Nová scéna in Bratislava...
as Walden - Milan Lasica as Professor
- Josef AbrhámJosef AbrhámJosef Abrhám is a Czech film and theatre actor.In 1965–1982 he was one of the leading actors of The Drama Club in Prague and has been noted as one of the Czech Republic's best performers...
as Brandejs - Jaromír Dulava as Karel
- Pavel Nový as General
- István SzabóIstván SzabóIstván Szabó is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.Szabó is the most internationally famous Hungarian filmmaker since the late 1960s. Working in the tradition of European, auteurist art cinema, he has made films that represent many of the psychological and political...
as stock marketeer - Tonya Graves as Emperor of Abyssinia
- Rudolf Hrusínský as Tichota
- Petr Ctvrtnícek as stock broker
- Jirí Sesták as waiter
- Zdenek Zák as militiaman
- Emília VášáryováEmília VášáryováEmília Vášáryová is a Slovak stage and screen actress, referred to as the First Lady of Slovak Theater. During her over five decades long career, she has received numerous awards including the Meritorious Artist , Alfréd Radok Award , Czech Lion Award Golden Globet Award , and most recently the...
as Mrs Rajska - Zuzana FialováZuzana FialováZuzana Fialová is a Slovak actress.She attended the music and drama department at the Conservatory in Bratislava, and in 1998 graduated acting studies at the drama faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Currently she is preparing for a graduate degree...
as Marcela - Václav Chalupa as Hrdlicka
- Petra Hrebícková as Jaruska
- Eva Kalcovská as Wanda
- Sárka Petruzelová as Julinka
Critical reception
I Served the King of England received generally positive reviews from critics. As of October 11, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 80% of critics rated the film positively based on 71 reviews, with a consensus of "With charm and an eye for life's bittersweet moments, Czech New Wave master Jiri Menzel paints a picaresque story with whimsy and intellect." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 72 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating a generally favorable response.
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
named it the 6th best film of 2008, and Dennis Harvey of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
named it the 8th best film of 2008.
It received the Gopo Award
Gopo Awards
The Gopo Awards are the national Romanian film awards, similar to the Academy Awards , the Goya Awards , or the César Award...
for Best European Film in 2009, meaning it was the European film which achieved the best box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
success in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in 2008.
External links
- CFN Entry
- Review in The Prague PostThe Prague PostThe Prague Post is an English language weekly newspaper covering the Czech Republic and Central and Eastern Europe.It is the only English-language newspaper in the Czech Republic...