- When Father Was Away on Business
-
When Father Was Away on Business 
Directed by Emir Kusturica Produced by Mirza Pašić Written by Abdulah Sidran Starring Moreno De Bartolli
Miki Manojlović
Mirjana Karanović
Mustafa Nadarević
Mira Furlan
Davor Dujmović
Predrag Laković
Pavle VujisićMusic by Zoran Simjanović Cinematography Vilko Filač Editing by Andrija Zafranović Release date(s) September 12, 1985 (West Germany)
October 11, 1985 (U.S.)Running time 136 minutes Language Serbo-Croat Box office $25,053 (West Germany only)
$16,131 (USA only)When Father Was Away on Business (Serbo-Croat: Otac na službenom putu, Отац на службеном путу) is a 1985 Yugoslav film by Serbian director Emir Kusturica. The screenplay was written by the Bosnian dramatist Abdulah Sidran. Its subtitle is A Historical Love Film.
Contents
Plot
Set in post-World War II Yugoslavia during the Informbiro period, the film tells the story through the eyes of a young boy Malik. His father Meša (played by Miki Manojlović) has been suspected of working for Cominform and sent to a labour camp after a careless remark about a political newspaper cartoon.
The movie opens in June 1950 with a local's serenading field workers. He sings Mexican songs because it's "safer", and children climb trees and play around. The story is from the perspective of the boy, Malik, whose mother Sena tells him that his father is on a business trip. Malik is a chronic sleepwalker.
After a while, Meša's wife and children rejoin him in Zvornik. Malik meets Maša, the daughter of a Russian doctor. He falls in love with her, but last sees her when the ambulance takes her away.
At the wedding of his maternal uncle Zijah, Malik witnesses his father's affair with a woman pilot. She later tries to commit suicide by using a toilet's flush cord. Sena reconciles with her brother Zijah, who's been diagnosed with diabetes.
Cast
- Moreno De Bartolli as Malik Malkoč
- Miki Manojlović as Mehmed "Meša" Malkoč
- Mirjana Karanović as Senija "Sena" Malkoč (née Zulfikarpašić)
- Mira Furlan as Ankica Vidmar
- Mustafa Nadarević as Zijah "Zijo" Zulfikarpašić
- Predrag Laković as Franjo
- Pavle Vujisić as Muzafer Zulfikarpašić
- Slobodan Aligrudić as Ostoja Cekić
- Aleksandar Dorčev as Dr. Evgeni Liakhov
- Silvija Puharić as Masha Liakhov
- Emir Hadžihafizbegović as Fahro Zulfikarpašić
- Davor Dujmović as Mirza Malkoč
- Eva Ras as Ilonka Petrović
- Jelena Čović as Nataša Petrović
- Amer Kapetanović as Serjoža Petrović
- Zoran Radmilović as Brko Pilot
- Tomislav Gelić as Hamdo Malkoč, barber
Awards
- 1985 Cannes Film Festival: the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) and the FIPRESCI Prize,[1]
- Nominated for the 1985 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
See also
References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: When Father Was Away on Business". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/1044/year/1985.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
External links
- When Father Was Away on Business at the Internet Movie Database
- When Father Was Away on Business at AllRovi
Films by Emir Kusturica 1980s Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (1981) • When Father Was Away on Business (1985) • Time of the Gypsies (1988)1990s Arizona Dream (1993) • Underground (1995) • Black Cat, White Cat (1998)2000s Strawberries in the Supermarket (2003) Life Is a Miracle (2004) • Promise Me This (2007)Documentaries Super 8 Stories (2001) • Maradona (2008)Palme d'Or winning films – 1980–1999 All That Jazz (1980) · Kagemusha (1980) · Man of Iron (1981) · Missing (1982) · Yol (1982) · The Ballad of Narayama (1983) · Paris, Texas (1984) · When Father Was Away on Business (1985) · The Mission (1986) · Under the Sun of Satan (1987) · Pelle the Conqueror (1988) · Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) · Wild at Heart (1990) · Barton Fink (1991) · The Best Intentions (1992) · Farewell My Concubine (1993) · The Piano (1993) · Pulp Fiction (1994) · Underground (1995) · Secrets & Lies (1996) · Taste of Cherry (1997) · The Eel (1997) · Eternity and a Day (1998) · Rosetta (1999)
Big Golden Arena for Best Film Yugoslav competition
(1957–1990) Priests Ćira and Spira (1957) · H-8 (1958) · Train Without a Timetable (1959) · The Ninth Circle (1960) · Ballad About a Trumpet and a Cloud & The First Fires (1961) · Kozara (1962) · Face to Face (1963) · Official Position (1964) · Prometheus of the Island & Three (1965) · Monday or Tuesday (1966) · I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967) · When I Am Pale and Dead (1968) · Downstream from the Sun (1969) · Handcuffs (1970) · Red Wheat (1971) · The Master and Margaret (1972) · The Battle of Sutjeska (1973) · The Republic of Užice (1974) · The House (1975) · Idealist (1976) · Don't Lean Out the Window (1977) · Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978) · Trophy (1979) · Petria's Wreath (1980) · The Fall of Italy (1981) · N/A (1982) · Body Scent (1983) · Balkan Spy (1984) · When Father Was Away on Business (1985) · Happy New Year '49 (1986) · Reflections (1987) · My Uncle's Legacy (1988) · The Meeting Point (1989) · Silent Gunpowder (1990)
Croatian competition
(1992–present) Story from Croatia (1992) · Countess Dora (1993) · N/A (1994) · Washed Out (1995) · How the War Started on My Island (1996) · Mondo Bobo (1997) · When the Dead Start Singing (1998) · Madonna (1999) · Marshal Tito's Spirit (2000) · Slow Surrender (2001) · Fine Dead Girls (2002) · Here (2003) · Long Dark Night (2004) · What Iva Recorded (2005) · All for Free (2006) · The Living and the Dead (2007) · No One's Son (2008) · Metastases (2009) · Just Between Us (2010) · Kotlovina (2011)
Categories:- 1985 films
- 1980s comedy-drama films
- Coming-of-age films
- Films directed by Emir Kusturica
- Palme d'Or winners
- Political drama films
- Yugoslav films
- Serbo-Croatian-language films
- 1980s drama films
- Serbian drama films
- 1980s comedy films
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
