FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

chaos-rampant The connections to silent cinema are stronger than ever in Jiri Menzel's latest film, in the beginning we even get mock-silent footage and intertitles, gags and pratfalls, and the protagonist is a Buster Keaton figure, dexterous and athletic and unperturbed by the world around him gliding through life untouched as though in a dream. I don't want to say that I don't like it because the German invasion of Czechoslovakia is treated as casually and irreverently, there's even a time and place for making light of war, and to the extent that the film's protagonist, the naive waiter at an upscale hotel in Prague, is swayed to one side or the other by apathy, good fortune, and innocence, Menzel is saying something about Czechoslovakia's attitude towards the Nazi occupying force. In a subtle way this is as much a political film as Closely Watched Trains. When Hitler's speech in the Reichstag announcing the impending invasion is played in the radio, our waiter promptly switches station to a light dance tune. But we're shown other Czechs too, who resisted in their own ways, like the Mait'r D' of the hotel (who Served the King of England) and his contempt towards German customers. Near the end a train of boxcars filled with people takes off and there's no mistake what the final stop for the people inside will be.Also curious is to me is the sharp juxtaposition between the waiter when he comes out of prison 15 years later a lonely man with sunken cheeks, and his younger self, who feels like a star of silent cinema, a figment of fantasy, and never like a human being. Or maybe not even sharp but jarring, in the sense that I can't quite figure out how the man we see come out of prison emerged out of what he used to be.You said something in your description about 'being delighted' with the film, and that's spot on on the reaction Menzel is trying to elicit, also probably why I didn't like it. 'Being delighted' by a film happens very rarely to me. I'm not wired that way and it's just not a part of how I watch movies or why, sad bitter bastard that I am. It probably explains why I'm not the biggest fan of satire, of which there is plenty here. Still I smiled in a few spots, so there might be hope for me.

jotix100 Jan Dite, a resourceful waiter at a Prague restaurant, likes to play tricks on the wealthy patrons of the establishment where he starts his career by throwing coins on the floor. It never fails, even the richest men cannot pass the occasion of getting down to pick up a coin, something that fills Dite's soul with contentment. Jan Dite also starts his own sentimental education at the hand of a beautiful blond who sends the older gentlemen in the restaurant to a state of bliss. But the only one that really gets to her heart, and her bed is Jan.The picaresque ascent and downfall of Jan Dite is told in flashbacks by the older Dite, who at the beginning of the story is released from jail for something that is not revealed until almost the end. Jan goes from Prague into a country hotel where the privileged rich love to go to be secluded with attractive young women. In a delicious sequence Jan Dite comes upon what really goes on in a private room upstairs where a lovely young lady rotates on a 'lazy Susan' kind of device while the men around the table have great views of her. Even this woman seem to prefer Jan to most of the old goats that can really pay for her.The next adventure involving young Dite involves his stay at one of the most beautiful restaurants in all of Prage, the great Paris Hotel, where the art of food is the most refined in the city. There Jan makes the acquaintance of the head waiter, Skrivanek, a suave and debonair man who can speak several languages and who takes a liking for the young Dite. His waiters love to perform a sort of balletic dance around the restaurant where they balance the many platters on their tray. One waiter in particular, resents Jan Dite, who gets his revenge when he makes his rival trip causing him to go into a melt down of huge proportions. One of Jan's best achievements was his role during the dinner the Emperor of Ethiopia offers at the hotel. Being a short man, the monarch wants to offer a medal to one of the staff, but not being tall, he bestows the sash with the jewel to Dite, who treasures it forever. His big love comes in the way of Liza, a German woman who arrives in the country after part of it is taken over by Germany. The Nazis are seen arriving all over town. Some Czech youths begin beating Germans, but Jan's intervention gains her admiration that will turn into love. The only problem is the question of whether Jan Dite's blood is fit to blend with Liza's who is pure Aryan. It is not too long before the invading Germans are all over the place. Jan Dite's sees his older friend and mentor being sent away to a death camp, but he is helpless to do much. The old man had suggested to put his money into stamps because he feels the money will be useless. Jan, not heeding the advice ends up with nothing, until Liza returns from the war loaded with stamps, which are sold in order for Dite to buy the old Paris hotel, but alas, his happiness is short lived because the Communists take over. The hotel goes to the state and they send Jan Dite to prison for having paid 15 million for the establishment that merits him fifteen years away.This wonderful film by Jiri Menzel, a director much admired for his earlier projects, is a satire about life before WWII and its aftermath. The most interesting aspect of the story involves the young Jan because of the great possibilities Mr. Menzel saw in the ascent of the entrepreneurial Dite, whereas the latter part with the older Jan only serves to recall parts of his interesting life. The director had actually worked with novelist Bohumil Hrabal, but his take on the book shows a director at the top of his craft as a creator. The irony of the story is that after the country is invaded by the Germans, the people become slaves by the Communist regime that will last more than forty years by the hardliners that took over.The best thing in this film is the wonderful Bulgarian actor Ivan Barnev, who steals the picture. He is one of the most remarkable actors working in Eastern Europe today. It is a joy to watch this man work. He is never obnoxious. In addition, he possesses one of the most expressive faces that works great in the film. Oldrich Kaiser, is seen as the older Dite. He too, bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Barnev, but alas, his role is not as important in the context of the film. Julia Jentsch, a German actress, plays the role of Liza, who becomes Dite's love. Martin Huba, another distinguished actor is marvelous as the head waiter Skrivanek. The supporting cast includes Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, in a cameo.The film is a triumph for Jiri Menzel, who was blessed with the magic performance of Ivan Barnev in an unforgettable film that will live forever.

Rob-O-Cop Watching this with a Girlfriend might not be the best way to enjoy this movie. It all starts pretty well, delicious cinematography, nice period setting, funny characters etc. The First scene with naked women as sexual objects fulfilling the whims of older powerful men in a fantasy style comes and goes, yep, that's fine, a bit politically incorrect but we can handle that, but then the second and third and forth and so on scene of exactly the same over and over again, and you start to wonder who the hell made this movie, some old guy using it as an excuse to visualise his own private fantasy world of subservient naked women who act out his every whim, cos that's what it looked like. There wasn't a female character in this movie that wasn't a willing whore or a Nazi. After over an hour of this my viewing partner had to speak up and the rest of the movie was a tender hooks affair as I hoped we could get to the end of the movie and find the deep message buried within without to many more episodes to set woman's equality back 100 years, which of course wasn't going to happen, more elderly men with sex kitten women at their beckon call and we reach the end of the movie and have time to contemplate the meaning of it all,..... and there doesn't seem to be any great revelation.Hey I like tits and ass sexy women as much as the next guy, but this movie had a really seedy feel to it. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I've obviously offended a bunch of people by daring to criticize the master work of a local talent but be fair, I'm not the only one who noted and had a problem with the objectification going on here.The fact that this film was so masterfully made, beautifully shot, it implied something important, but at the end of it all it was difficult to weigh the misogyny against beauty. "Sexism masquerading as art"?sorry to offend the directors fans but you know there's probably some truth in what I've said.

Harry Carasso I already had had a hectic day when I watched J'AI SERVI LE ROI D'ANGLETERRE. I've heard of Czech movies, even saw most of the Milos Forman's, but this Menzel was my first. For reasons stated above, I dozed several times during the first half, which others consider as the best. Then I was caught in by the action, and enjoyed this very imaginative movie, and was even moved when the postage stamps were blown by the fire wind. However, I think there were a few flaws, such as the "coitum abruptus", but I'd rather yield on the subject, because I am sure the Czecks (and the Slovaks)know the subject better. I wonder if they are not in a rush to see the end of 2008, after what they got in 1938 (Sudeten crisis), 1948 (Communism) and 1968 (Soviet Tanks in Prague). I will certainly give this movie a second chance and even buy a DVD, if there is one existing. harry carasso, Paris, France