Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping

Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping
Directed by	Ladislav Smoljak
Written by	Ladislav Smoljak Zdeněk Svěrák
Produced by	Jan Balzer
Starring	Zdeněk Svěrák
Cinematography	Richard Valenta
Edited by	Jiří Brožek
Music by	Petr Skoumal
Release date	1983 (1983)
Running time	81 minutes
Country	Czechoslovakia
Language	Czech

Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping (Czech: Jára Cimrman ležící, spící) is a 1983 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Ladislav Smoljak. It is a biopic of the fictional Czech national hero Jára Cimrman, who is portrayed by one of his inventors, Zdeněk Svěrák.

The story is framed by an excursion to Liptákov, the (fictional) village where Cimrman allegedly spent the final years of his life. The retrospective passages, which make up most of the film, span Cimrman's whole "known" life, where he interacts with many personalities of Czech and European science and culture in the Belle Époque. A large portion of the film deals with Cimrman's acting as a tutor in the family of Franz Ferdinand d'Este, the heir presumptive of Austria-Hungary. In this role Cimrman is secretly aiming to "split the monarchy".

Cast

• Zdeněk Svěrák - Jára Cimrman (as Zdeněk Svěrák and Company)
• Valerie Kaplanová - the museum guide
• Petr Čepek - Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este / Nývlt, his double
• Josef Abrhám - Theatrical researcher
• Libuše Šafránková - Alžběta
• Ladislav Frej - Marold, painter
• Jiří Zahajský - Dr. Emil Holub, explorer
• Marie Drahokoupilová - the tour courier
• Míla Myslíková - Headmistress
• Jaroslav Vozáb - translator
• Vladimír Svitáček - Professor Kingsley
• Milena Dvorská - Duchess d'Este
• Jiří Kostka - Emperor Franz Joseph I / Macháně, his double
• Petr Kostka - Mánes, painter
• Pavel Vondruška - Johann Strauss II

External links

• Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping at IMDb