I Served the King of England

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Short guy Jan Dite, but high in ambition wants to become a millionaire. And he knows just how to do it: by hearing everything, seeing everything, and creating opportunities at every turn. Armed with this knowledge and an irrepressible wish to please, he soon leaves his first place of employment, a pub, for a luxury brothel and finally moves onto an elegant Art Nouveau Prague restaurant.

But by the late 1930s, things are changing: Hitler has taken the Sudetenland region and is breaking apart Czechoslovakia. Jan falls in love with Líza, a Sudeten German proud of her Aryan blood. They marry, and soon after Líza is sent to serve on the Polish front, while Jan remains behind to serve as a nurse in a Nazi SS Research Hospital, but when she returns, she has a fortune in rare stamps that Jews had 'left behind.'

After Lízaâ death, Jan sells the stamps and becomes a millionaire. But he only has three years to enjoy his fortune: the new Communist regime puts him behind bars for 15 years, one for each of his millions. Upon his release from jail, Jan is sent to live in a decrepit border town. Here Jan reflects on the events that have shaped his life--and to reflect on what might have happened if he had played a different role in these events.

Cast
Ivan Barnev as Jan Díte, younger
Oldrich Kaiser as Jan Díte, older
Julia Jentsch as Líza
Martin Huba as Skrivánek
Marián Labuda as Walden
Milan Lasica as Professor
Josef Abrhám as Hotelier Brandejs
Jirí Lábus as Hotel Boss
Jaromír Dulava as Waiter Karel
Pavel Nový as General
István Szabó as Stock Marketeer
Tonya Graves as Abyssinian Emperor
Rudolf Hrusínský as Tichota
Petr Ctvrtnícek as Stockbroker
Jirí Sesták as Waiter

Movie Info
Directed by Jiří Menzel
Produced by Rudolf Biermann
Written by Bohumil Hrabal
Music by Aleš Březina
Cinematography Jaromír Šofr
Distributed by Bioscop
Running time 120 min.
Country Czech Republic / Slovakia / Germany / Hungary
Language Czech