I just can't put this film down. It perfectly captures the mood and sense prevailing in communist Czechoslovakia. We open with a queue for meat which Father ( Ondrej Vetchy ) bypasses to do some blackmarket dealing with the butcher. "Mother" ( Libuse Safrankova - at her usual brilliant best ) is expecting her first child ( which arrives at an unfortunate time - just after the interval at the theatre ). Baby Kvido is the apple of his grandmothers' eyes but his formative years are interrupted by the Soviet Invasion of 1968. The film follows the effect the Soviet "occupation" has on Kvido's parents. The mid-life crisis of Father is fed by the arrival of the stunningly beautiful Mirjana from what used to be Yugoslavia. Mother and Father fall out over dinner when Mirjana is invited round. The film explores how the weight of a cruel and corrupt society and an unhappy marriage drag a man down. Don't miss this film the ending is optimistic and the experience will leave a smile on your face. I watched in the original Czech with subtitles something may be lost.
