Payment in Kind

Overview

In an unusual, apolitical approach, director Jaromil Jires has fashioned a standard drama that features an older lawyer with failing health who goes to practice in the countryside. His series of odd court cases reveals more about the human condition than about law. In one of these litigations a wayward nephew has cheated his elderly aunt out of her savings. In court, the nephew insists the money was a gift, but his aunt explains she only gave him the money as a loan. Although the lawyer technically wins the case, everything of value seems lost in the meantime. His services are paid for in rabbits because the aunt has no currency, and in the end, the nephew cons his aunt into parting with her savings anyway. Other cases expose similar types of petty corruption.

Details

Status

Released

Release date

February 26, 1980

Original language

Czech

Spoken languages

Czech

Countries

Czechoslovakia

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov

Cast

Miluše Zoubková,Gustav Jankovský,Alena Vránová,Michael Tarant,Marie Brožová,Jaroslav Vozáb,Lena Birková,Marie Málková,Josef A. Stehlík,František Červinkaand 31 more

Director

Jaromil Jireš

Writer

Miroslav Hladký,Jaroslav Dietl

Cinematography

Jaromír Šofr

Music

Vadim Petrov

Budget

Not recorded

Revenue

Not recorded

IMDb

tt0171158