"I Served the King of England" is a movie besotted with its own contradictions. An extravagant, visually stunning feast of sensory delights, Jiri Menzel's winsome comedy, set in World War II-era Prague, pirouettes along a beguiling but treacherous line between horror and whimsy.

Jan Dite (Ivan Barnev) wants only one thing in life: to be a millionaire. "I Served the King of England" chronicles with sumptuous detail his picaresque journey from pub to brothel to world-class hotel in Prague.

Along the way, Jan seduces his conquests, festooning their nude bodies with flowers and food. As Jan comes up in the world, he turns a blind eye to the historic changes swirling around him. When Hitler invades the Sudetenland, Jan and his Nazi girlfriend, Liza (Julia Jentsch), ally with the collaborationists.

Jan narrates his story as a grown man (played by the gruffly handsome Oldrich Kaiser), having endured the consequences of his younger, callow self's dubious choices.

His ethereal air of disconnection from the grubby realities of life begins to feel like something far more sinister as history raises the stakes. By one of the film's final scenes, when the older Jan sits in an abandoned pub surrounded by mirrors, it's clear that reflection, if not moral reckoning, is at hand. When it finally arrives, the note it sounds of healing and forgiveness is no doubt welcome, but viewers could be forgiven for wondering if it's entirely earned.

-- Ann Hornaday (Sept. 12, 2008)

Contains sexual content and nudity. In Czech with English subtitles.