When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
Practical Effects
Švankmajer's handcrafted wooden Otik—grotesque, alive, unforgettable.
Direction
Live-action and stop-motion collide in uncanny harmony.
Writing
Fairy tale logic that gets darker with every meal.
Director
Jan Švankmajer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on the Czech folk tale 'Otesánek,' which Švankmajer read as a child and found terrifyingly resonant with post-war Czech hunger and deprivation.
The Otik puppet required 12 interchangeable mouths to show his progressive consumption, and Švankmajer insisted on real food for the eating scenes to capture authentic texture.
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