Payment in Kind

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.

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Genre:

Comedy

Duration:

85 minutes

Year:

1980

Director:

Jaromil Jireš

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Company:

Filmové studio Barrandov

Cast:

JUDr. Lukášek

babička Márová

Joun

soudce JUDr. Petřík

sekretářka Zuzana

Crew:

Director of Photography

Screenplay

Director

Set Decoration

Unit Production Manager