I Served the King of England (2008)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 86
Fresh: 70 | Rotten: 16
With charm and an eye for life's bittersweet moments, Czech New Wave master Jiri Menzel paints a picaresque story with whimsy and intellect.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 4
With charm and an eye for life's bittersweet moments, Czech New Wave master Jiri Menzel paints a picaresque story with whimsy and intellect.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 8,768
My Rating
Movie Info
Despite the 1997 death of longtime friend and Closely Watched Trains collaborator Bohumil Hrabal, 1960s-era Czech New Wave filmmaker Jirí Menzel enters into a postmortem collaboration with the famed author in this pitch-black comedy detailing the shrewd rise of an ambitious waiter. All diminutive manservant Jan Dite (Ivan Barnev) ever wanted was to be filthy rich and to preside over his very own hotel. As a young man coming of age in the 1930s, Jan was preoccupied by beautiful women and
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Cast
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Ivan Barnev
Jan DĂte Old, Jan Díte... -
Oldrich Kaiser
Jan DĂte Young, Jan Dí... -
Julia Jentsch
Liza -
Martin Huba
Skrivánek, SkrivĂĄnek, ... -
Marián Labuda
Walden -
Milan Lasica
Professor -
Zuzana Fialová
Marcela -
Josef Abrhám
Brandejs Hotelier -
Jirí Lábus
Hotel Chief -
Jaromír Dulava
Waiter Karel -
Pavel Nový
General -
Rudolf Hrusínský
Hotelier Tichota -
Tonya Graves
The Emperor -
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I Served the King of England Trailer & Photos
All Critics (91) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (71) | Rotten (16) | DVD (3)
The world it depicts is too dangerous and too lovely to classify.
Top CriticThe movie is filled with wonderful moments, set pieces of absurdity, and a richness of humor. But underneath, Menzel and Hraba have a wry and sometimes painful story to tell of the history of their country in the 20th century.
Tasty enough but inoffensive even when it should offend, provoke, startle.
Most movies of this kind would lead towards redemption of sorts. Menzel prefers quiet introspection to loud conversion, and that's both a strength and weakness of this movie.
I Served the King of England should be a brilliant picture, one last testament to the intertwined sensibilities of two brave artists. Should be, but isn't.
This heady comedy is a fun and absorbing satire of everything from politics and personal survival to sexual mores . . . and more.
I Served the King of England plays like a combination of Life Is Beautiful and Forrest Gump.
The pseudo-sensuality is annoying and the supposed absurdism and satire are flimsy.
[A] delightful, lighthearted satire, a quirky story of fantasy, wealth and pretty women with exposed nipples.
Audience Reviews for I Served the King of England
Super Reviewer
Okay... what happens here is that a Czech waiter in pre-occupied Prague really, really wants to be a millionaire. And he will go as far as it takes and rise above any and all circumstances in order to get what he wants. He will become a Nazi to marry a cute German teacher, he will silently witness all sorts of twisted human dynamics for a decent tip, he will accept stamps stolen from deported Jews to change them for money... the man is a total innocent, absolutely ignorant of the perversity of his actions or omissions, only chasing after his dream. And he is content even when his beloved fortune is confiscated and he is sent to jail because he will share cells with millionaires. And he always did want to be with millionaires.
The remarkable thing about I Served... is how it creates this rich, sensual Universe in which the main character moves, where he struggles to climb, that he inhabits pleasurably. Naive as he is in the face of reality, he enjoys and contemplates women, food, and money as the most natural things in the world. Therefore, the film is overflowing with vitality and color, textures, suggested tastes and scents. Scenes of banquets and orgies are shown in a matter-of-fact way and accompanied with beautiful music.
Styllistically, the film reminded me of Chaplin and Rene Clair. There's the quick paced piano, the complicated falling and stumbling, the slapstick humor, and the undercurrents of wit and satire.
The performances are very limited since voice-over dominates a great portion of the film, but every actor undoubtedly inhabits their character perfectly. There's hardly a weak performance.
I don't quite know what to make of this movie. It has no big lessons to teach or much to reflect upon except the uselessness of money and the importance of a full life, and even that can go unseen behind all of its visual charm. I Served... is original, cheerful, and provocative. It's knowingly relativist and allegoric. Above all, it's fun, and light-hearted fun with complex backdrops always gets on my good side.
Super Reviewer
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- Jan DĂte Old: A person becomes most human, ften against his own will.. when he begins to founder, when he is derailed or deprived of order.
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- Jan DĂte Old: I look at myself and am sickened by what I see.
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- Marcela: We're here to find trees with melodies in them. Music.
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- Walden: You have to know how to throw away your change so that it comes back to you as banknotes.
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- Jan DĂte Old: My whole life I aspired solely to become a millionaire. But before that it wanted nothing more than to peddle frankfurters at the train stain.
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- Jan DĂte Old: It was always my luck to run into bad luck.
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Foreign Titles
- Ich habe den englischen König bedient (DE)
- I Served the King of England (Obsluhoval jsem anglickeho krale) (UK)
