The Garden (1995 film)

Plot

Jakub is a daydreamer in his early 30s and is still living with his father. The father is tired of Jakub's idleness and throws him out of the flat. He tells Jakub to sell the old garden of his grandfather and to buy his own flat. Jakub retires into the neglected garden and retreats into the worn garden house from the world and from his problems. The garden turns out to be a magical place full of surprises and mysteries. Jakub stumbles across his grandfather’s journal which is written in reverse script. He finds a map leading him to an old bottle of slivovice hidden years ago. Now curious Jakub must solve the mysteries of his grandfather’s garden. He meets Helena, a young girl Jakub’s grandfather taught to also write backwards. Strange things happen in the garden, and some of them do indeed seem like miracles. Amid the eccentric events, young Helena teaches Jakub to appreciate the delicate mysteries of life. In the end Jakub loses all his possessions but finds his peace.

Reception

The Garden is one of the most recognised films of post communist Slovakia. It is especially popular in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It won the special prize of the jury of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 1995 and several Czech Lions in 1996.