The Gardener’s Year brings together the poetic spirit of Karel Čapek’s literary work with a contemporary, raw story about an individual’s powerlessness in the face of wealth, authority, and bureaucracy. Inspired by true events and Čapek’s book of the same name, Jiří Havelka’s tragicomedy premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2024.
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The Gardener’s Year / dir. Jiří Havelka / 2024 / comedy, drama / Czechia / Czech with English subtitles / 104 min.
Director: Jiří HavelkaCast: Oldřich Kaiser, Dáša Vokatá, Štěpán Kozub, Michal Isteník, Alena Mihulová, and others
A gardener and his wife live a quiet life in their nursery at the foot of a hill, until their everyday rhythm is disrupted by the new owner of a nearby château. When the gardener’s land begins to stand in the way of his plans, the owner launches a series of increasingly forceful actions. The gardener, however, refuses to give up and begins a quiet fight for his home and a dignified life.
The Gardener’s Year is a tragicomic portrait of a man whose seemingly small struggle gradually takes on an existential dimension. Jiří Havelka combines understated humor, absurd situations, and quiet emotional moments in a story about perseverance, dignity, and the clash of different value systems.
The film’s atmosphere is shaped by the rural setting and the changing landscape across the four seasons, echoing Čapek’s literary source. Oldřich Kaiser won the Czech Lion Award for his performance as the modest but remarkably resilient gardener.
