Jan Svěrák’s comedy Five Plums to hit UK cinemas under the title What a Way to Go
Oscar-winning director Jan Svěrák’s comedy Pět švestek (Five Plums) will be released in cinemas in the United Kingdom this autumn under the title What a Way to Go. It is only the fourth Czech film in the 30 years since the Czech Republic became an independent state to secure a wide release in British cinemas.
The film is about five elderly friends who set off together on one final adventure, sailing around some Greek islands on a rented yacht. Oscar-winning director Jan Svěrák describes the film as a comedy about “two rebellious old women and three old men who set out to sea without adult supervision.”
The Czech phrase ‘packing up your five plums” refers to someone with few personal belongings who is forced to move on. Speaking to Czech Radio Svěrák explained why he chose that particular title.
“It’s about “packing up your five plums” and getting out. Our heroes are already elderly, and people expect them to drop out of life as well. And another reason for the title is that when we saw the poster of the five actors bobbing up and down in the sea, I said: you have wrinkled faces, you look a bit like dried plums floating on the water”.
For the first time, Svěrák did not work with his father, the renowned Czech screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák, but with his own two sons. Ondřej worked as a sound engineer, while František was behind the camera.
In the Czech Republic the film proved hugely successful. Although primarily aimed at an older audience, the film has also attracted younger viewers, prompting bursts of laughter during screenings.
The film's universal theme was also confirmed by American actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, who appeared at this year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with her husband actor Peter Sarsgaard. After viewing Five Plums, she wrote to the producers that they had rarely laughed so much and been so moved as by this movie. The couple also offered to help promote Five Plums among filmmakers in North America.
In Britain, the film will be released under the title What a Way to Go and will be distributed by Picturehouse, which operates smaller cinemas and screens both mainstream and foreign-language films. In the 30 years since the Czech Republic became an independent state, only three films have managed to find their way into British cinmeas: Kolya, Dark Blue World and I Served the King of England.
Highlighting its qualities, the Czech Film and Television Academy recently selected Five Plums as one of five films from which its members will choose the Czech candidate for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
