The Late Films of Jiří Menzel: The Broken Spell of Nostalgia and Melancholy Heroes in I Served the English King (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále, 2006) and Skirt Chasers (Donšajni, 2013)
The Late Films of Jiří Menzel: The Broken Spell of Nostalgia and Melancholy Heroes in I Served the English King (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále, 2006) and Skirt Chasers (Donšajni, 2013)

Summary/Abstract: The melancholic hero in a nostalgic world forms the dominant element of artistry in Jiří Menzel’s films from the beginning of his work in the 1960s to the present time. The theme of this study is the analysis of melancholic elements, focusing on the director’s last two films, in which he utilises similar stylistic and narrative practises as in his earlier work, but also a significant change in style occurs in the construction of the nostalgic world and the protagonist’s character. The melancholy hero abandons the security of the alternative nostalgia and is confronted with the dangerous outside world ultimately to come across self-reflection. These changes profoundly disrupt the functionality of the director’s artistry; the films were panned by both critics and viewers.The conclusion of the study will be based on the analysis of chosen elements that generate melancholic and nostalgic emotion (construction of a melancholic character, structure of an idyllic chronotope, the style of the film) to capture the allegorical function of melancholy in the structure of an artwork which symptomatically portrays social and existential states.

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