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Director: Jan Sverák
Cast: Zdenek Sverák, Daniela Koláeová, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Alena Vránová
Run Time: 103 minutes
Country: Czech Republic
Year: 2007
Language: Czech with English subtitles
Rating: PG (Coarse language, sexual content)
A box office sensation in its native Czech Republic, Empties
is the last in a trilogy from director Jan Sverák and his
actor-screenwriter father Zdenek Sverák. Beginning with
the Academy Award®-nominated Elementary School (1992),
which explored the magical and confusing terrain of childhood,
the trilogy continued with the breathtaking Academy
Award-winning Kolya, and now comes to completion with
Empties, a comic love story about a man facing old age.
In the film, Sverák Sr. plays Josef Tkaloun, a literature
teacher who decides to quit his job, frustrated by the growing
generation gap between himself and his pupils. Once
retired, however, he feels useless and unneeded, a predicament
that he has trouble accepting. After trying a couple
of jobs suited to his qualifications, the 65-year-old curmudgeon
takes up a position at the bottle-return booth in
the local supermarket. From his vantage point behind the
counter, Josef finds his real calling as a goodhearted but
meddlesome supermarket cupid who tries to fulfill the lives
of his family, friends and acquaintances.
He soon becomes an institution at work, and despite the
looming threat of an automated bottle collector, is nevertheless
perfectly happy with his new occupation. However, the
exciting new world he creates at the store leaves less and
less room for his increasingly neglected wife, Eliška (Daniela
Koláeová), and she of course has no intention of getting
used to it.
The highest-grossing Czech film of all time (edging out
the Film Circuit favourite I Served the King of England), Empties
avoids sentiment through its bittersweet style of comedy.
With its confident, easygoing performances and Jan
Sverák’s unforced direction, the film is ultimately a gentle
love story that dramatizes the formidable moments in life.
“[Empties] has clearly touched a local nerve about the challenge
of relationships against the backdrop of unwanted
societal change.” – Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Reviews: www.rottentomatoes.com/m/empties/
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