After separating from Lisa, Jiri has to fight not to lose his son Victor. In his desperation, he has no choice but to kidnap him and sells the escape to him as an adventure trip based on a jointly invented story about two little animals on their way to the magical land of Padulim. Victor goes along, but wishes his mother was there.
Acting
Roman Knižka's unraveling desperation is physically uncomfortable
Writing
Padulim mythology as emotional manipulation — devastating device
Director
Annette Friedmann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Padulim functions as the film's devastating core metaphor — a fictional paradise invented to mask abduction, making the child's willing participation in his own kidnapping the ultimate parental betrayal dressed as bonding.
Director Annette Friedmann's background in documentary infuses the road trip with uncomfortable vérité energy; the German-Czech border landscapes become a liminal purgatory between two failed homes.
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