First things first: How is the film's official English title Wrong Side Up? The direct translation is Tales of Ordinary Madness which is a reference to the eponymous book of short stories by Charles Bukowski. Like Hank, Petr is an overeducated (see references to the visual arts and films in his apartment) but underemployed man who is at the mercy of women and hard alcohol. Destiny is a master of him, not to mention he too suffers from an attack of the killer blanket which is resolved after an interaction with his neighbours. Perhaps the purposefully wrong translation is an effort to avoid any copyright issues. Surely nobody will notice what name the film (and original play) were released under in Czech cinemas! Perhaps it's a national secret to keep Petr Zelenka safe? Ssshhh!
A film composed of subplots - not unlike a book of short stories (okay okay, I'm done now!) - we see tidbits of the lives of Petr, his friends, and family. We bear witness to small acts of madness prompted by love or one's desire for it (e.g. cooking hair in milk, driving a forklift up a highway), but it is only Petr's mother, a beacon of global social justice and terribly anxious of her aging husband's sanity, who actually ends up in an asylum.
The film is naturally a dramedy, as are many modern Czech films. It is an art perfected by a small nation whose life is serious and yet allows to laugh at its funny moments. Just check their 20th century history. In 2005, the feeling of being the underdog is still ripe in the social climate, and Petr is a perfect example of one. Or perhaps he represents Petr (coincidence?) Zelenka himself. Given the Woody Allen treatment, he is at the receiving end of Jana's affections, a beautiful ex-girlfriend mysteriously dubbed by a Czech voice actress (perhaps having her speak Slovak, her performer's native tongue, would raise questions on why her aunt is Czech). Like many Czech films, the cast features numerous beautiful women who are in love with scruffy-looking dorks. Where are the handsome, charming, strong, or well-groomed young men? Notice I said "or" as my standards aren't set that high. I know these men exist, I have seen them! However, both the film's male and female characters are multidimensional beings with the good and the bad, I will give Zelenka that.
The film's underlying theme of infidelity in all its forms is as unexpected as it may seem unintentional. But one must remember that Zelenka is a skilled writer with a knack for subtlety. Jealousy is framed as ludicrous when Petr's boss is confronted by his wife (the only Slovak in the film) who is shrieking about his attraction to... a mannequin. She doesn't understand the way we do. We have seen Petr himself (taking inspiration from his boss) purchase a mannequin in order to adjust her arms a little to allow a loving embrace. And yet the boss's wife is no stranger to his infidelities. Earlier we heard a story where he attempted to leave the then-communist country by shipping himself as boxed goods in order to see a woman living in Germany - a ploy halted by said wife. "She saved my life," he admits and settles for a mannequin.
Jealousy is also portrayed as accepting when Petr's mother realises that her husband's infidelity has woken him up from the stupor of old age. His affair with the young artist Sylvie is invigorating to the point where they go parachuting together - a contrived scene where one is reminded of all these activities that Czech film characters engage in (like hot air balloon sequences of Babí léto in 2001 and Vratné lahve in 2007), but regular Czechs do not.
We learn that jealousy can too be forgiving. On multiple occasions Jana speaks to Petr over the telephone only to hear another woman's voice in the background. And yet she tells him that it is okay and even stomachs his attempted affair with her cougar aunt.
As for Petr's exhibitionist neighbours Jiri and Alice who have temporarily spiced up their lives? A strange type of jealousy occurs between Petr and his father when they realise they have both been audience members to the couple's playtime. The film is witness to sexual mores being broken over and over again. Well played.
The characters are constantly trying to overcome their past only to be confronted by it again. At the beginning of the film we are told by Petr that his father, the film's most endearing character, has always harboured a hatred for the communists. They would both pretend to shoot the officials during political rallies, and yet we later learn that the father was in fact the voice of the government. He worked as a voice actor for governmental news bulletins. His wife sees his past as a reason for pride for everybody recognised his voice! His lover Sylvie sees it as a source of curious entertainment to the younger and ignorant generation at her art opening. Much like the multiple Che Guevara t-shirts in the film, his communist connection has become commercialised and exploited despite his own shame of his conformist past.
The film itself starts with a blast from the past with a historical news bulletin (voiced by Miroslav Krobot?) of Fidel Castro stepping out of an airplane on his visit to Czechoslovakia. During the regime, Cuba was seen as the "allies from the west", the government-approved exotic holiday for the few lucky. The film also ends with Cuba when the delivery men confuse the unbeknownst Petr in a box for a crate of humanitarian aid. Jana who is aware of Petr's unorthodox romantic gestures is expecting him to be delivered to her doorstep much like he previously had been on his forklift journey up the highway. To our surprise she opens a charity box while Petr is loaded onto a plane. The cycle of sending a Cuban person to Czechoslovakia at the film's beginning and a Czech person to Cuba in its final has been sealed. During the film Petr's mother was obsessed with sending humanitarian aid to the current epicentre of political turmoil in Bosnia. Perhaps her son's unrelenting optimism could be seen as humanitarian aid to Cuba? The ending is amusing, but also dark. We know he will die in the high altitudes. The final scene represents the epitome of Czech dramedy.
I first saw the film shortly after it was released, but have recently rewatched it. Initially I gave the film six stars (above average), but after finding many interesting topics to deconstruct I lifted their number to seven. Nevertheless, I find Zelenka's films Rok dábla (2002), Knoflíkári (1997), and especially Karamazovi (2008) of superior quality.
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