I Served the King of England (film)
| I Served the King of England | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jiří Menzel |
| Produced by | Rudolf Biermann |
| Screenplay by | Jiří Menzel |
| Based on |
I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Aleš Březina |
| Cinematography | Jaromír Šofr |
| Edited by | Jiří Brožek |
| Distributed by | Bioscop |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country |
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| Language | Czech |
| Budget |
CZK84.45 million (USD$3.2 million) |
| Box office | $7.3 million |
I Served the King of England (Czech: Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále) is a 2006 Czech comedy film written and directed by Jiří Menzel, based on the novel I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal. It is Menzel's sixth adaptation of the works of Hrabal for film.
The film was released in the United Kingdom and in the United States in 2008.
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 film 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.
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