In 1930s Czechoslovakia, short, penniless waiter Jan Díte (Barnev) dreams of becoming a millionaire and opening a hotel; he likes to toss coins in the hotels he works in to watch the dignified fat cats get on their hands and knees to scoop up the change. He knows that the way to a woman’s heart is to decorate her body with flowers or fruit. For an hour or so, his life plays like a mad Chaplin-esque dream—a sequence of the sex-and-food shenanigans at a posh country resort for industrialists (and their gorgeous consorts) is a comic feast of fantasy and satire.
The Details
- I Served the King of England
- Ivan Barnev, Oldrich Kaiser, Julia Jentsch, Martin Huba.
- Directed by Jirí Menzel.
- Rated R.
- Opens Friday.
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- Beyond the Weekly
- I Served the King of England
- IMDb: I Served the King of England
- Rotten Tomatoes: I Served the King of England
But World War II must intrude. Díte marries a Nazi-loving soldier (Jentsch) who makes love while gazing on a portrait of der Fuehrer. As Díte is ostracized by the Czechs for his relationship, than returned to good standing when the Germans take over the country, we never get a strong feeling of the man’s moral compass, which becomes more strained the closer he comes to making his fortune. To its detriment, the movie seems to resist the very weight it’s building toward.
The film is told in flashback by the elder Díte (Kaiser), who’s just been released from prison. The old man has a wondrous glow in his eyes as he ponders the human comedy of his life, but one wishes his gaze contained a little more heartbreak.
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