Daily Dialogue — September 12, 2017

“Give him a bath and put him to bed.”

— Kolya (1996), written by Zdenek Sverák, story by Pavel Taussig

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Babysitting, suggested by Gisela Wehrl who also recommended today’s selection.

Trivia: 45 weeks after Kolya was first released, this was still in the top 3 in the Czech Republic’s box office charts. (Kolya won the Oscar and the Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film in 1997.)

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Gisela: “Babysitting means a lot more than putting a child into bed. Everyone should know, but this line should calm down bachelor Louka. And it takes even more, when Louka has to take the job of Kolya’s father longer than just one night.”

Short Synopsis: A sham marriage to a Russian woman should solve Louka Franka’s financial problems, after the confirmed bachelor and former concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia has lost his place in the state orchestra. But after the marriage, his brides flees to Western Germany — and leaves her five-year-old son with his grandmother. It’s a shock for Lokus to find out, that’s his duty to care for his stepson when the grandmother goes into the hospital. And when she dies, Kolya must live with him.