vernon film society
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I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND
Director: Jiri Menzel
Cast: Ivan Barnev, Julia Jentsch, Oldrich Kaiser, Martin Huba
Run Time: 120 minutes
Country: Czech Republic
Year: 2008
Language: Czech with English subtitles
Rating: Not yet rated
Reviews: Not yet released
Official Site: www.anglickykral.cz/ojakeng.htmlBased on the comic novel by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, I Served the King of England is firmly rooted in the middle decades of the twentieth century, both in subject matter and spirit.
Adapted for the screen by Jiri Menzel (a frequent collaborator with the late Hrabal, most famously on the 1966 classic Closely Watched Trains), the film seamlessly blends self-deprecating humour and personal tragedy in a manner emblematic of the high-modern Czech cinema since its celebrated sixties New Wave – of which Menzel was a key player. The picaresque narrative tells the rags-to-riches story of the opportunistic and amoral everyman Jan Dite (literally “Jon Child,” played by Ivan Barnev), who schemes his way up the hospitality ladder through the grand halls and hotels (not to mention bedrooms) of thirties Prague. When the ill-fated city falls to the German invaders, Jan manages to rise above his circumstances by becoming the fiancé of fervent Aryan beauty Liza (Julia Jentsch, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days). When Liza is killed retrieving a box of valuable stamps acquired during her stint on the Russian front, Jan uses the valuable collector’s items to purchase the very hotel at which he used to work. However, it is not long before his life’s ambition comes crumbling down all around him.
Mixing social commentary with an aesthetic that borders on the exuberant charm of the classic silent film era, I Served the King of England deftly balances its often-harsh subject matter with a delightfully audacious tone to create a larger-than-life black comedy.
