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I Served the King of England
I Served the King of England Image
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Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Ivan Barnev, Julia Jentsch, Oldrich Kaiser
  • Summary: Jan Dít? is short in height, but high in ambition. To put it bluntly, the young provincial waiter 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 moving 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 Líza’s less than heroic 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. (Sony Classics) … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    100
    It's a giddy nightmare. Nothing is quite what it seems in I Served the King of England, and this is poetically appropriate. The world it depicts is too dangerous and too lovely to classify.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    91
    This is a dark story as well as a frothy one. But the bubble of absurdist self-absorption in which Menzel places this specimen of man-child is exquisite.
  3. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    50
    Should be a brilliant picture, one last testament to the intertwined sensibilities of two brave artists. Should be, but isn't.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. JayW.
    10
    A remarkable Czech film with a superlative cast. Not to be missed!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. MikeJ.
    10
    Simply wonderful! A great story in a wonderful presentation. Too bad Hollywood can't understand this.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. BenY.
    10
    Genius!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 6 User Reviews

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