16/01/2007

In 1990, Jirí Menzel won the Golden Bear in Berlin for Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti) a film with a 21-year delayed premiere, as it had been banned by the regime in communist Czechoslovakia.

In 2007 it could be déjà vu for Menzel, just in terms of the award, as his latest feature, the box office sensation I Served the King of England [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále), has been selected for Berlinale’s official competition.

Times have definitely changed, but not Menzel. In King of England, he did what does best: adapting for the big screen a story by departed author and friend Bohumil Hrabal. This recipe for success brought the Czech director Oscar glory in 1966 with Closely Observed Trains (Ostre sledované vlaky) and the Golden Bear in 1990.

I Served the King of England follows the life of ambitious waiter Jan Díte from the period between the two World Wars up to the early 1960s. Menzel cast Bulgarian actor Ivan Barnev in the lead and Germany’s Julia Jentsch in the main female role.

“This is not a teenagers’ film, they like different kind of things” said Menzel about his film, indirectly distancing himself from the trend of recent times: the light comedies aimed at younger audiences that have hit the Czech box office mark.

Ironically, it is probably the young who have already earned the film a place in the record books. The film’s opening weekend admissions (including a short Christmas pre-release), a smashing 113,938, make it the sixth best opener of all times in the multiplex era, falling behind only such blockbusters as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter movies. I Served the King of England had a €3m budget and was produced by Bioscop and AQS, together with Magic Box Slovakia, Barrandov Studio, UPP and TV Nova.