I served the English king

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Movie
German title I served the English king
Original title Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále
Country of production Czech Republic , Slovakia
original language Czech
Publishing year 2006
length 120 minutes
Age rating FSK o. A.
Rod
Director Jiří Menzel
script Jiří Menzel
production Rudolf Biermann
music Aleš Březina
camera Jaromír Šofr
cut Jiří Brožek
occupation

I served the English king is a Czech feature film from 2006. It is based on the novel of the same name by Bohumil Hrabal . The film was released in German cinemas on August 21, 2008.

action

The film tells the picaresque story of the rise and fall of Jan Dítě. Jan (old) is released after 15 years in prison and has to settle in a deserted border area of ​​the Czech Republic, where Sudeten Germans lived before they were expelled at the end of the war. Here he meets other exiles, including a French professor and a dancer, with whom he falls in love and to whom he begins to tell his life. Decades ago Jan Dítě (young) started selling sausages at a train station (black and white, silent film ). Then he worked as a temporary waiter in a restaurant, where he met love in the form of a rain-soaked prostitute and a sales representative. He recommends him to the Hotel Paříž, where he gets to know the elegant way of life of the rich and becomes head waiter by tripping his predecessor, which causes him to burst into anger, which disqualifies him. His boss Skřivánek ( Martin Huba ) can boast of serving the English king. However, when the Abyssinian emperor wanted to bestow a medal, Skřivánek was too big for the little emperor. The medal lands on the neck of Jan Dítě, who is small anyway - and making himself even smaller. In the meantime, Jan Dítě (old) has restored a completely dilapidated German house and invites the professor and the dancer to a meal that is not only modest but poor compared to the gourmands of the prewar period. But here too, as there, the addition of the erotic to the culinary delight is not lacking.

When Hitler occupies the Sudetenland, Jan Dítě (young) saves a Sudeten German girl from the attack by Czech youths who want to take away her white knee socks. Lisa is grateful to her savior, but only wants to marry him if his Aryanism has been proven and his sperm has been found suitable. While the Nazis occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia and transform it into " Bohemia and Moravia ", Jan Dítě wrestles a sperm sample from an elderly nurse hugging him in her mother's arms. By marrying Lisa, Jan can continue to advance unhindered. Jan tries to father a child with Lisa; but that fails, although (or because?) she keeps her gaze fixed on a picture of Hitler during the act of procreation. Lisa becomes a sister on the Eastern Front, Jan becomes a waiter in a Lebensborn hotel and serves the ladies who are supposed to be impregnated there by "pure" Germans "in step". When Lisa returns, she has an impressive collection of postage stamps that she has collected in the apartments of deported Jewish families. They should be the starting capital for Lisa and Jan after the war.

The men brought to the women in the Lebensborn Hotel are now mostly seriously injured in the war and lack legs, arms or eyes. Lisa dies trying to retrieve the stamps from the hotel that was hit by Soviet bombs and collapsed. Jan finds them buried under rubble, is able to save the stamps and opens his own hotel after the war. However, when the communists come to power after three years , they expropriate him and want to appoint him as manager of the now state-owned hotel. But he shows them his savings book, in which 15 million kroner are entered. He is sentenced to one year in prison for possession of every million. Jan Dítě (old), now all alone in his house (the French professor and the dancer have moved away), comments that his wish to belong to the millionaires has finally come true. Because they were all in prison.

Reviews

“The film jumps back and forth between times and identities. If there is reflection in this film, then that should be taken literally, please. Words become dispensable, well, they are still good for punch lines. It is pleasure and fear to get involved. The fact that you have to suck in the air between your teeth when taboos are touched is nothing more than physical participation in the film. "I served the English king" would be funny enough for the Golden Bear . "

- Dietrich Kuhlbrodt in the TAZ on February 17, 2007

Awards

The film was a competition entry at the Berlinale 2007 and was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize . In 2007 he also won four Bohemian Lions for best Czech film of the year, Menzel for best director, Šofr for best camera and actor Martin Huba for best supporting role.

literature

Web links