Okénko: A Petty Little Mess of Manners and Money

Is it worth your time?

If you like old, talky European comedies where everyone is sweating over their social standing, sure. If you need pacing faster than a brisk walk, skip it. It’s mostly for people who enjoy watching mid-century moral panics play out in living rooms. 🍷

The movie hinges on this bizarre, high-stakes accusation. Johánek gets sloppy with his friends, and suddenly he’s the bad guy in the eyes of Růžena’s mother. It’s funny how fast people pivot from 'nice to meet you' to 'I’m going to ruin your life for a payout.' The mom is just… relentless. She smells that inheritance money from three rooms away.

Hugo Haas is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. He has this way of looking exhausted by everyone else's stupidity that felt very relatable. The scene where he’s trying to navigate the accusation while clearly hungover? A total mood. It’s not flashy, but it works.

Some random notes I scribbled down:

• The lighting in that one hallway scene is weirdly dark. Was the budget just candles?
• Lída Baarová shows up and suddenly the screen has actual energy. She’s way too good for this script.
• The dialogue feels like it was written to be shouted across a crowded room.
• The 'window' (the titular Okénko) becomes a metaphor, I guess? Or just a prop they forgot to move.

Honestly, the film feels a bit like L'arpète in how it fixates on these small-town social hierarchies. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. It just wants to show you how pathetic people get when they think there’s a gold mine under the floorboards.

There’s a moment toward the end where Johánek just stops defending himself. You can see the exhaustion in his eyes—he realizes that arguing with a gold digger is like trying to dry off in the rain. It’s the most honest moment in the whole mess. 🏚️

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely a footnote. But it’s got enough bitterness to keep it from feeling like a total waste of an hour.