Jiří Menzel
Jiří Menzel (Czech: [ˈjɪr̝iː ˈmɛntsl̩] 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 are adapted from works by Czech writers such as Bohumil Hrabal and Vladislav Vančura.
Menzel, a member of the Czech New Wave, became internationally famous in 1967, when his first feature film, Closely Watched Trains, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His controversial film Larks on a String was filmed in 1969, but was initially banned by the Czechoslovakian government. It was finally released in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
Menzel was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film again in 1986 with his dark comedy My Sweet Little Village. In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1989 he was a member of the jury at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1995 he was a member of the jury at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival. He would be conferred with IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2013.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.6997 |
| Birthday | 1938-02-23 |
| Place of Birth | Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic] |
| Also Known As | Jirí Menzel, Jiri Menzel, 이리 멘젤, 이리 멘첼, |
1966
Closely Watched Trains
7.223/267
At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to...
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Closely Watched Trains
1969
Larks on a String
6.878/45
In post-WWII Communist Czechoslovakia, several characters considered bourgeois are sentenced to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation. Among them is a...
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Larks on a String
2009
Operation Dunaj
5.2/16
Operation Danube was the cover name for the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact armies in August 1968. The fleet of Polish tanks which arrive to...
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Operation Dunaj
1972
Sechse kommen durch die Welt
5.333/6
The King of Malabunt has won another war, after decorating himself and his three wooden marshals, he dismisses his army with a low wages. One of his s...
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Sechse kommen durch die Welt
2005
Pocta V+W
0/0
Jiří Suchý recalls two of the most prominent artistic and creative figures in Czechoslovak culture of the last century: Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich.
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Pocta V+W
1968
Capricious Summer
6.412/34
Middle-aged Antonin and his friends, the major, now retired, and the canon, are in the river, swimming and philosophizing. Then it starts to rain. It...
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Capricious Summer
1982
Ferat Vampire
5.289/38
A doctor is shocked when his beloved colleague Mima signs a contract with foreign car manufacturer Ferat, in order to work for them as a rally-driver....
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Ferat Vampire
1980
Hra na telo
0/0
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Hra na telo
1969
The Cremator
7.779/261
In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.
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The Cremator
1978
The Apple Game
6.071/7
Sarcastic comedy about the Czechoslovakia of the seventies. A young gynaecologist can't figure out whether to get serious with a young nurse or to sta...
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The Apple Game
1979
Those Wonderful Movie Cranks
6.464/14
Returning home to Prague, the magician Pasparte, an owner of a circus caravan, meets his dying colleague who entrusts his beautiful daughter Aloisie t...
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Those Wonderful Movie Cranks
1962
Ceiling
5.6/10
The young Marta has made a break in her medical education to fully invest in her career as a model. We follow her for a day in her life, almost comple...
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Ceiling
1967
The Return of the Prodigal Son
5.889/18
Engineer Jan Sebek (Jan Kacer) is undergoing treatment in a mental home after his unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide. His therapist, via discussio...
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The Return of the Prodigal Son
1964
Hory hory
0/0
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Hory hory
1964
A Place in the Crowd
8/1
A film in five episodes, all based on an attempt to show the life of young people today, their feelings and relationships, their behaviour in public a...
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A Place in the Crowd
1979
Minden szerdán
7/1
Stephen, living in a troubled family, breaks into a grocery store and wreaks vandalism. He is sent to a reform school. Later he works in a cleaning br...
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Minden szerdán
1964
Dobrá rada je nad zlato
0/0
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Dobrá rada je nad zlato
1966
Searching
5.444/9
Michal's father and his friends are stigmatized by their war experience and the post-war social deformations in which they took part either directly,...
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Searching
1966
Pearls of the Deep
5.891/32
A quintet of vignettes based on short stories by Bohumil Hrabal: an eventful trip to the motorcycle races results in drunkenness, long-winded discussi...
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Pearls of the Deep
1965
Pension pro svobodné pány
6/1
A young man living in a strictly run boarding house secretly brings a girl of loose morals into his room at night, who is nevertheless well-groomed an...
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Pension pro svobodné pány
1966
Volejte Martina
6.667/3
The series of children's films about Detective Martin, who intervenes in cases involving children, begins with this film. It consists of two short sto...
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Volejte Martina
1965
If a Thousand Clarinets
7.429/14
A military base. An awkward soldier. A statue of Bach. And suddenly all guns in the area change into music instruments. Great mystery is immediately f...
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If a Thousand Clarinets
1966
Martin Speaking
7/1
The second installment of children's stories investigator Dr. Martin. The film has two stories:
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Martin Speaking
1966
Flám
7/1
A comedy about a charismatic man who lacks the confidence of his surroundings. However, he was not completely satisfied with the original script and i...
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Flám
1967
Windstorm
5/2
A worker steals bits and pieces of building materials from work to construct a new home for himself and his girlfriend. When he discovers that she’s h...
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Windstorm
1990
The Gentle Barbarian
5.6/5
A commemorative and essayistic meditative piece on the Prague quarter Libeň during the 1950s.
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The Gentle Barbarian
1995
Too Loud A Solitude
8/3
An elderly paper-crusher branded a fool in Prague secretly stashes condemned books, preserving their contents and extrapolating from them eccentric sc...
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Too Loud A Solitude
1985
Albert
7.5/4
Story of an extraordinary musician, violinist, who was famous, but his alcoholism led him to poverty. Now he is playing time from time to rich people....
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Albert
1983
Hearty Greetings from the Globe
6.889/9
Two aliens stir up trouble on Earth in order to study humans. Misunderstandings ensue.
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Hearty Greetings from the Globe
1970
Nevěsta
10/1
The female employees of the poultry-processing factory find relief from their monotonous work in chatting about weddings and marriages. The very young...
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Nevěsta
1972
Straw Hat
5.563/8
Slacker Maurice Fadinar wasted his whole inheritance and the only way out of this situation, as it seems, to marry Helen Nonankur - daughter of a weal...
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Straw Hat
1995
Joint Venture
3.667/3
Prague 1994, hotbed of international profiteers. Here you can still find buyers for discarded everyday objects, here you can still buy cheap houses -...
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Joint Venture
2014
Bohumil Hrabal „Takže se stalo, že...“
0/0
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Bohumil Hrabal „Takže se stalo, že...“
2004
Daddy
7/4
This film is a documentary-style look at the life of the beloved Czech actor, Zdeněk Svěrák.
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Daddy
1983
Fandy ó Fandy
4.6/5
Little kids, little worries, big kids, big worries, sighs many a parent often. This is no different for the mother of eighteen-year-old Frantisek, who...
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Fandy ó Fandy
2012
The Presence of Arnošt Lustig
0/0
"A man is immortal as long as he lives in the memory of others,” said well-known Czech writer Arnošt Lustig with a wry smile. In December 2006 when he...
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The Presence of Arnošt Lustig
2012
Signál
3.8/6
Two young technicians, Filos and Kája, come to a small village that is a bit cut off from the rest of the world in order to find the best place to ins...
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Signál
1983
Passing Fancy
7/1
The main character of the story which takes place in the twenties in Budapest is the poet Dr. Rácz György, who returns after ten years of absence. In...
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Passing Fancy
2014
Milan Čorba
0/0
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Milan Čorba
1995
Vengeance Is Mine
4/3
A celebrated theatre director’s perfect life unravels when his wife’s secret lover exposes the hollowness beneath his success, leading to a calm divor...
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Vengeance Is Mine
1980
Koportos
6.5/2
A Roma laborer living in a shantytown strives to organize a traditional, dignified funeral for his wife following her sudden death. He travels to the...
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Koportos
1990
Martha and I
7/2
Emil (Vaclav Chalupa as a teen, Ondrej Vetchy as an adult) has been naughty, and his family is at a loss about what to do with him. He's been dallying...
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Martha and I
1990
Martha and I
7/2
Emil (Vaclav Chalupa as a teen, Ondrej Vetchy as an adult) has been naughty, and his family is at a loss about what to do with him. He's been dallying...
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Martha and I
1981
Heart Tremors
5.2/5
The general practitioner Balla and his wife abandoning her higher education begin their common life in the small mountain village in the hope of quick...
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Heart Tremors
1993
Dr. Hrabal
0/0
A film impression about Bohumil Hrabal - an encounter with the man and his literary work. The film was shot in places well known and close to the writ...
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Dr. Hrabal
1968
Dita Saxová
5.9/10
In 1947 Prague, Holocaust survivor Dita lives in a hostel for orphans, acting as a protective mentor to a younger girl while failing to fix her own s...
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Dita Saxová
1966
An Occasion to Speak
0/0
Documentary about the film academy in Prague and the Czech Film in 1965.
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An Occasion to Speak
2016
The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street
3/4
The film tells the life story of its director, Jan Nemec, one of the most known and important filmmakers of Czech New Wave.
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The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street
1993
Everything I Like
6.857/7
A film about the uncertainties faced by a man in post-Communist Slovakia, his relationship with a teenage son and English teacher girlfriend who's soo...
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Everything I Like
1966
Nobody Will Laugh
5.833/6
A successful art historian who has trouble telling people difficult truths, finds himself in an inescapable situation when a small lie quickly gets ou...
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Nobody Will Laugh
1999
All My Loved Ones
7.25/12
Told from the perspective of man reflecting on his childhood in Prague in the early years of World War II and the eventual destruction of his family a...
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All My Loved Ones
1965
Courage for Every Day
6.231/13
A passionate communist worker is discouraged by the changing political climate and the failure of his peers to live up to his ideals.
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Courage for Every Day
2007
Teddy Bear
5.1/11
Jirka, Roman, and Ivan have been friends since school. Today they are about 35 and, although they went into different fields, their friendship has las...
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Teddy Bear
2016
To Make a Comedy Is No Fun
5.8/4
Documentary feature about Czech director Jiří Menzel, featuring Menzel himself as well as Miloš Forman, Emir Kusturica, István Szabó and others.
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To Make a Comedy Is No Fun
1967
Hotel for Strangers
6.188/8
A gifted poet checks into a Gothic hotel in hopes of meeting the woman with whom he has long been enamored. He is surrounded by a variety of offbeat c...
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Hotel for Strangers
1993
The Little Apocalypse
6/8
An unknown Polish writer can't publish his novels, so his ex-wife decides to help him and get some of the profit for herself. She finally finds a publ...
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The Little Apocalypse
2002
The Sunken Cemetery
9/1
Ivan, in his early forties, returns, after many years of absence to his native town - a typical Middle - European small town in Northern of Croatia. H...
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The Sunken Cemetery
1995
How to Deserve a Princess
6.083/6
A fairy tale of three brothers who try to save a princess kidnapped by an evil wizard.
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How to Deserve a Princess
2018
The Interpreter
5.5/19
80-year-old Ali Ungar comes across a book by a former SS officer describing his wartime activities in Slovakia. He realises his parents were executed...
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The Interpreter
1968
Crime in the Night Club
6.333/9
The theft of a pearl necklace and subsequent murder took place at the Tartaros cabaret. All this could compromise the minister, who is an admirer of t...
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Crime in the Night Club
2006
Zimní víla
0/0
Kateřina works at an inn run by her evil stepmother. One day, she meets a young man she doesn't know in the forest. He is Prince Jan, and he is surpri...
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Zimní víla
1977
30 Maidens and Pythagoras
4.625/8
A musical starring Jiří Menzel (whose part is sung by Achilles Michailidis) as a math and physics teacher employing innovative teaching methods.
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30 Maidens and Pythagoras
1983
Švédská zápalka
3.3/3
The aging police commissioner, who has a twenty-five-year-old fiancée, Olga, is disturbed at his sixtieth birthday party by the news from the administ...
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Švédská zápalka
1966
Daisies
7.286/427
Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them.
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Daisies
2011
Jiří Menzel: 7 Questions
0/0
An idiosyncratic reflection on the film Larks on a String and its history, shot by it's director Jiri Menzel.
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Jiří Menzel: 7 Questions
1980
Blue Planet
3.667/3
A young engineer, Štěpán Pavlík, dreams of becoming a cosmonaut.
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Blue Planet
1981
Bulldogs and Cherries
4.286/7
The dreaded Italian mafioso, Marian Labuda, will also be convinced. Mafioso Carmello was guilty of the principles of his organization when he tried to...
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Bulldogs and Cherries
1964
Defendant
7.167/6
Managers at the construction of a big hydro plant are accused of having embezzled money.
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Defendant
2018
CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
6.5/2
An epic exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema of the 1960s and 70s, structured around a series of conversations with one of its most acclaim...
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CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
1982
Babička se zbláznila
0/0
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Babička se zbláznila
1987
Dámská jízda
7/1
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Dámská jízda
1981
Povídka Malostranská
8.5/4
A young man studying law finds a place to stay with a young conductor, thinking that he will find an idyllic Lesser Town atmosphere here and will be a...
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Povídka Malostranská
2009
Setkání v Praze, s vraždou
0/0
After many years, Anka Lomnická, a former countess and emigrant, arrives in Prague. By chance, she finds herself seated next to two characters from a...
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Setkání v Praze, s vraždou
1991
The Elementary School
7.336/64
The time is 1945-46. 10 year old Eda and his friend Tonda live in a small village outside Prague. In school, their class is so wild and indisciplined...
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The Elementary School
2002
Útek do Budína
6.5/2
The love story of students Jana and Tomáš begins in Prague just after the establishment of the First Republic. Their impulsive "escape to Buda" marks...
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Útek do Budína
1996
Franciska vasárnapjai
9/1
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Franciska vasárnapjai
2006
A bárány utolsó megkísértése
0/0
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A bárány utolsó megkísértése
2001
Als Großvater Rita Hayworth liebte
0/0
The story of a family that is forced to flee the ČSSR in 1969 and seeks a new home in Germany.
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Als Großvater Rita Hayworth liebte
1990
Strange Creatures
8/2
A parable for the end of totalitarianism.
Three protagonists - a high official, a secretary, and a border guard - representative of three generations...
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Strange Creatures
1991
Tady vím, proč jsem
0/0
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Tady vím, proč jsem
1989
Stvoření světa
0/0
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Stvoření světa
1990
Zvonokosy
0/0
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Zvonokosy
1987
Run, He Is Coming!
5.167/6
A comedy about happiness, Indian magic and adultery. One day Mr and Mrs Sysel happen to solve the problem of lacking enough room in their tiny flat. T...
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