MOVIE REVIEWS : Director Menzel’s Charm Shines in ‘End of Old Times’

Jiri Menzel’s “The End of Old Times” (at the Monica 4-Plex) shows the Oscar-winning Czech filmmaker to be at the height of his powers in a wry and lovely comedy that inevitably brings to mind Jean Renoir in its exquisite subtlety and compassionate observation of human nature.

Like Renoir’s masterpiece “The Rules of the Game,” it is set during a weekend at an elegant country estate, but the undertone is comic rather than tragic. Both bid farewell to the old aristocracy and its gallantry, but whereas the 1939 “The Rules of the Game” foreshadows the imminent outbreak of World War II, Menzel sets his sunny film in the early ‘20s and surely reflects Czechoslovakia’s current fresh experience with democracy and freedom of expression.

In the wake of the 1918 Czech Revolution, a splendid country estate, probably of 18th-Century vintage, in Southern Bohemia, has been seized by the government and is now inhabited by a nouveau riche businessman (Marian Labuda) and his two daughters. A short, fat man seething with self-importance and social ambitions--and all the insecurities that go with them--he decides to throw an elaborate weekend hunting party in order to advance his position and to secure governmental approval necessary to buy the estate and its vast grounds.

On the one hand, he must win over the chief of the Agrarian Party (the sly veteran Rudolf Hrusinsky, a Menzel favorite) and also the head of the Peasants Party (Jan Hartl), both of whom dress like Parisian boulevardiers. Labuda has inherited the estate’s staff, augmented it with a number of attractive women, including especially his daughters’ soignee French teacher (Chantal Poullain-Polikova). The Agrarian Party chief has brought along his handsome young son (Jan Hrusinsky), who is immediately attracted to the host’s pretty elder daughter (Barbora Leichnorova).

Consequently, the air is already charged with the promise of romantic intrigue when the dashing Duke Alexey Malrogov (Josef Abrham) arrives unexpectedly. Adapted by Menzel and Jiri Blazek from a novel by Vladislav Vancura, the film has as its great stroke of inspiration to keep us guessing as to whether the duke really is who he says he is.

A handsome, bearded man of 45 with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, the duke can swashbuckle like Errol Flynn--and like Flynn, not take himself too seriously. Of course, he immediately becomes the commanding presence at the estate, bowling over his delighted host and threatening the other male guests’ sexual strategies. But there’s a great deal more to the duke than merely carrying on or having fun; this worldly and wise man has it in him to make the others aware that they’re pretending to be what they’re not. Whether the duke’s title is for real becomes beside the point, for he is a true aristocrat of the spirit.

Menzel conducts his large ensemble with his customary ease and distinctive digressive pacing; never fear, he always gets back to the point. In this beautiful and ceaselessly good-natured film (Times-rated Mature for some nudity and love-making) cameraman Jaromir Sofr and composer Jiri Sust help keep everything light and airy but also gloriously sensual. Typical of the film’s many telling moments is the estate’s elderly butler’s glance, moving from pride to an accepting ruefulness, at the side-by-side portraits of his master past--as proud and stern-looking as J. P. Morgan--and his master present, ungainly and unhandsome.

‘The End of Old Times’

Josef Abrham: Duke Alexey Malrogov

Marian Labuda: Josef Stoklasa

Jaromir Hanzlik: Bernard Spera (the librarian)

Jakub Lhota: Rudolf Hrusinsky

An IFEX International release of a Barrandov Film Studios production. Director Jiri Menzel. Screenplay Menzel, Jiri Blazek; from a novel by Vladislav Vancura. Cinematographer Jaromir Sofr. Music Jiri Sust. Art director Zbynek Hloch. Sound Karel Jaros. In Czech, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (nudity, some love-making).