Otesánek (2000)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Jan Svankmajer

Writers:

Karel Jaromír Erben (fairy tale) and
Jan Svankmajer (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 January 2001 (Czech Republic)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real. When the root takes life they seem to have gained a child; but its appetite is much greater than a normal child.

Plot Keywords:

Child | Baby | Pedophile | Folk Tale | Sexuality

Awards:

6 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Veronika Zilková	...	Bozena
Jan Hartl	...	Karel
Jaroslava Kretschmerová	...	Alzbetka´s Mother
Pavel Nový	...	Alzbetka´s Father
Kristina Adamcová	...	Alzbetka
Dagmar Stríbrná	...	Pani spravcova (mrs. caretaker)
Zdenek Kozák	...	Mr. Zlabek
Gustav Vondracek	...	Mladek, the postman
Arnost Goldflam	...	Gynaecologist
Jitka Smutná	...	Bulankova, the social worker
Jirí Lábus	...	Policeman at station
Radek Holub	...	Young postman
Jan Jirán	...	Karel´s co-worker
Zdenek Palusga	...	Uniformed policeman
Frantisek Polata	...	Plainclothes policeman

Also Known As:

Greedy Guts (International: English title)
Little Otik (USA) (festival title)
Olesánek (Australia)

Runtime:

132 min | Italy:125 min (Venice Film Festival)

Country:

Czech Republic | UK | Japan

Language:

Czech

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Australia:MA | Japan:PG-12 | UK:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Knovíz, Czech Republic

Company:

Athanor

Quotes:

Bulankova, the social worker: Show me your Otik. That's his name, isn't it? Don't worry, i won't eat him.

Movie Connections:

References "Twin Peaks: Pilot (#1.1)" (1990)

I liked things more before Otik came along.

I'll concentrate on the two scenes I really liked: A street vendor wrapping babies in newspaper and selling them to a queue of women, and the first time Mr Zlabek is shown looking at Alzbetka.

Very early in the movie, a beautiful Božena Horáková and a line of other very pregnant ladies are sitting in what later transpires to be a gynecologist's's waiting room. Božena's husband, Karel Horák, looks out the window and sees a street vendor fishing babies out of a tub of water, wrapping them in newspaper, weighing them and selling them to a waiting queue of housewives. Karel goes downstairs and joins the queue, looks up and sees himself watching him out the window. Karel rejoins his body in the waiting room and Božena emerges from the doctor's room, tearful and no longer pregnant.

Thus we learn that Božena is not actually pregnant at all, although the Horáks both wish she was. This scene is a fantastic introduction to the style and content of *Little Otik*. This is the first time we see stop-motion photography in the movie, and it occurs to me that it's a practical way to film babies, as well.

Not long after wards, the pre-pubescent Alzbetka meets the old man Mr Zlabek on the stairs. While he is putting her glasses on to get a better look at her, she pulls her school tunic down over her knees to avoid the male gaze that every woman is familiar with. As he ogles her, Mr Zlabek's fly unbuttons to reveal the logical extension of his gaze. Alzbetka's mother comes out onto the stairs to help Mr Zlabek, who instantly turns into a helpless old man again. When Alzbetka claims that Mr Zlabek wanted to paw her again, the mother can't, or doesn't want to, see it.

Alzbetka is the only one in this movie who has any idea what's going on. How many among us don't remember the feeling of not being believed just because we were children, even though we were right? (How many mothers have turned a blind eye to the way men look at their daughters, because they depend on the man or they want to avoid confrontation?)

Once Otik came along, I kept watching, but Otik kind of swamped everything. I continued to be interested in things like Alzbetka's motivation for looking after Otik (she had always wanted her parents or at least the Horáks to have a baby); the potential uses Alzbetka might make of a box of matches; Alzbetka's mother's unappetizing lunches and the dramatic tension in a patch of fattening cabbages.