You Are a Widow, Sir - Remastered Blu-ray with English Subtitles

Kings, conspiracies, and comedy with no brakes: You Are a Widow, Sir on remastered Blu-ray

Some comedies make you smile. Others give you no time to breathe – once they take off, they race straight into pure absurdity. You Are a Widow, Sir / Pane, vy jste vdova! is exactly that kind of Czech comedy gem: a fast, playful satire of power, pride, and the chaos that follows one “small” royal incident.

Now it’s available in a digitally remastered Blu-ray edition in HD, with English subtitles, making this classic accessible to international fans of Czech cinema.

One accident, one decision… and the generals start plotting

A ruler from a neighboring state arrives on an official visit. An incident leaves the precious guest seriously injured – and the other king responds with a dramatic decision: he will dissolve the incompetent army.

For the generals, that’s a disaster. So they do what desperate generals do: they plot, conspire, and attempt to remove the ruler. But in this film’s world, nothing goes according to plan – and the situation escalates into brilliantly timed madness.

Vorlíček at his best: a slow start, then full-speed chaos

Director Václav Vorlíček builds the story patiently – and then, at a certain point, the film seems to stop controlling itself and starts sprinting toward a wildly comic finale.

Add a top-tier cast and unforgettable lines people still quote today, and you get the perfect film for a night when you want clever, classic, slightly surreal Czech humor.

Quotes fans still love

This movie is packed with iconic one-liners, including:

“I’ll make you unemployed!”
“She got the rope, but she’s lucky – she’s dying of liver disease.”
“Close your eyes, darling!”

Behind the scenes: a tiara… and a rifle shot

One legendary story involves a scene with a tiara on the head of Iva Janžurová. The production worked with famed pyrotechnician Jiří Berger, who was supposed to “blast” the tiara effect.

But two days before shooting, the director called: Iva refused to have pyrotechnics on her head. The solution? Berger borrowed a small-caliber rifle from a friend. When Iva saw it, she reportedly exclaimed: “Oh my God, no!” In the end she put the tiara on – and Berger shot from about fifteen meters away.

And the best part: after the take, the director thanked her… and Iva immediately asked to do it again because she felt she acted it wrong – not because it wasn’t good, but because she was genuinely scared. That’s commitment.

Another fun fact: avoiding the approval committee

Writer Miloš Macourek reportedly refused to appear in front of the party’s film approval committee, saying he wouldn’t survive it нервově – a small reminder of the era in which these comedies were made.