''My Sweet Little Village'' () is a 1985 Czechoslovak film directed by

Jiří Menzel Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films ...

. In 1987 it was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Plot

The film's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man with mental illness, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as a truck driver assistant to Mr. Pávek, his older colleague, and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family and Otík's aunt Hrabětová take care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two truck coworkers become at odds over Otík's inability to perform even the simplest tasks. Pávek demands that Otík be transferred to assist another driver, who happens to be a choleric and suspicious man named Turek. Rather than work with Turek, Otík decides to accept an offer of employment in Prague but finds he does not fit into city life. After discovering that the transfer of Otík to Prague was a trick by a crooked subordinate of the Dřevoplech company director to get a deal on Otík's large inherited house for his boss, Pávek agrees to give Otík a second chance and retrieves him from the city to resume their work together. The film also follows several subplots, such as the secret romance of Turek's wife with a young veterinarian, the tribulations of an accident-prone but respected doctor who has almost as much trouble with his pessimistic patients as he does with his car, and the desperate deeds of Pávek's teenage son, who has ardent feelings for an attractive local teacher.

Cast

János Bán János is a masculine Hungarian given name. It originates from the Hebrew name Johanan and is thus a variant of the English name John. People Notable people with the name include: * János Aczél (mathematician) (1924–2020), Hungarian-Ca ...

as Ota Rákosník *

Marián Labuda Marián Labuda (28 October 1944 – 5 January 2018) was a Slovak actor. He was born in Hontianske Nemce. In 1964, he graduated from the ''Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava'' (VŠMU). He became a member of the Slovak National Theatre ...

as Karel Pávek *

Rudolf Hrušínský Rudolf Hrušínský (17 October 1920 – 13 April 1994) was a Czech actor. He was one of the most popular Czech actors. Many of his movies such as ''The Good Soldier Švejk'', '' The Cremator'' or '' Capricious Summer'' are considered classics of ...

as Dr. Skružný *

Petr Čepek Petr Čepek (16 September 1940 – 20 September 1994) was a Czechs, Czech actor. He was among the founders of The Drama Club theatre in Prague, where he played from 1965 until his death. He also had dozens of film roles, and he won the Czech Lion ...

as Josef Turek *

Libuše Šafránková Libuše Šafránková (married ''Abrhámová''; 7 June 1953 – 9 June 2021) was a Czech actress. She played leading roles in many Czech films and, according to audience polls, was the most popular Czech actress of the 20th century. She is best k ...

as Jana Turková *

Jan Hartl Jan Hartl (born 12 September 1952) is a Czech actor who played Karel Horák in the 2000 Czech film '' Little Otik'', also known as ''Otesánek''. He was born in Prague, Czech Republic (then part of Czechoslovakia). Hartl is a member of the Nation ...

as Václav Kašpar *

Miloslav Štibich Miloslav is a Slavic masculine given name, derived from the Slavic root ''mil-'', "merciful" or "dear", and ''-slav'' ''glory''. Name variants * feminine form: Miloslava * diminutive form: Miloš * Polish: Miłosław/Miłosława * Czech femi ...

as Vojtěch Kalina * Oldřich Vlach as Jaromír Kunc * Milada Ježková as Ludmila Hrabětová *

Zdeněk Svěrák Zdeněk Svěrák (born 28 March 1936) is a Czech actor, humorist, playwright and scriptwriter, and one of the most well-known and popular Czech cultural personalities. Since 1968 he has appeared in 32 films. Career In 1958, he graduated in Czec ...

as Painter Evžen Ryba *

Josef Somr Josef Somr (14 April 1934 – 16 October 2022) was a Czech actor. He was noted for starring in the Oscar-winning 1966 film '' Closely Watched Trains'', as well as in '' The Joke''. Early life Somr was born in Vracov, Czechoslovakia, on 14 Ap ...

as Director of Dřevoplech

Reception

In the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

the movie retains a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

. It's also popular in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

where main actor János Bán is from. The movie gained favorable reviews from movie critics, with

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

awarding the movie 3 and a half stars out of 4. "''In My Sweet Little Village'', (Menzel) discovers some of the same gentle, ironic humor that Forman found in ''The Fireman's Ball''. He uses everyday life as an instrument for a subtle attack on bureaucracy and a cheerful assertion of human nature. This movie is joyful from beginning to end – a small treasure, but a real one."

Production

The film was made on location in the village of

Křečovice Křečovice is a municipality and village in Benešov District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. Administrative division Křečovice consists of 14 municipal parts (in brackets population according ...

, with some scenes in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Awards

* 1986

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Paris Film Festival Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– won Best Actor award

References

External links

*
New York Times Review
{{Authority control 1985 films 1985 comedy-drama films 1980s Czech-language films Slovak-language films Films directed by Jiří Menzel Films with screenplays by Zdeněk Svěrák Czech comedy-drama films Czechoslovak comedy-drama films