Little Otik

A childless couple are digging in the garden of their country house when the husband pulls out a stump. He carves it as a joke into something like a baby. His wife accepts it as a real child; she swaddles it, feeds it and behaves as though she is pregnant. The stump begins to move. Then it gets hungry. The subject is not the fairy tale but a wish being granted turning into catastrophe. The couple wanted a child and got exactly that; the film shows the gap between wish and outcome without any softening. The form interleaves live action and stop motion. The stump baby was built as a puppet and animated frame by frame; the opening of its mouth and the chewing in the feeding scenes are deliberately repulsive. Jan Švankmajer used eating as a source of disgust throughout his career and does so here. The source is the Czech folk tale Otesánek. The narrative puts the tale itself inside the film: the little girl in the building reads the book and learns as she reads what is going to happen, so one of the characters knows the ending. Veronika Žilková plays the mother and Jan Hartl the father. Who it is for: viewers who like Švankmajer and dark fairy tale adaptations. Who it is not for: anyone with a weak stomach; the film stays a long time in its eating and growing scenes.