Shakespeare's famous line, "I have liv'd long enough. My way of life. Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf" does not hold water here in this film. Vladimír Michálek pokes fun at, & at the same time offers a shoulder to rest heads on to, those who are counting their last days because, as the saying goes, their days are numbered.Frantisek Hána (Fanda), who is just a few paces away from his grave, thumps his nose at old age and lives life king size; at one place he says, 'old men should be rich and respectable.' Being in the autumn of his life his spring does not fade; rather it's the spring that's mightier. If Fanda is the obverse of the coin called life, then Emílie Hánová is the reverse of it. She's all autumn: and she even tries to make her autumn (death) grand and peaceful. She stashes away money for their funerals; reads various dead person's epitaphs and even, rather hilariously, copies them; she also books a place where their graves would be; she desires herself and pesters Fanda to shift to an old-age home before death. Emilie, a woman rather obsessed than sad and afraid of death, through her small, almost blink-and-you-miss, acts in the film has painted a picture of the intensity of a soul to live every moment of one's life. it's just that her intensity to live has overgrown and surpassed towards death itself. Hence, she wants to die a peaceful death and even stay there peacefully.For Fanda death may be the ultimate upshot, but why whine and pine for it? His gather-ye-rosebuds-while-ye-may attitude towards life jars Emilie's preordained plans. He plays pranks with unknown people and wines and dines in posh restaurants; squanders Emilie's hard-saved money in whimsical trifles; pretends to be a ticket collector or a well-off personality looking for a mansion and so on. The man may be a jumping light of happiness, yet he does not desert them who are not: he often helps people in need with money, though he has none. The way he looks at life becomes a dish to savour and hang on with till the last breath. Jiri Hubac has touched upon the pathos of old age and the outright resignation of such traditional pathos of a man when his last days can be counted on his fingers.A subtly dark, but hilarious, humour plays upon the various strings that transform the film into a musical unison of life and its counterpart - death. The film celebrates and undoes before the viewers the various themes of marriage, friendship, life, death and how they work in consonance with everything that meets the eye. The carpe-diem motif signified by Fanda wins over Emilie's pessimism. She spends most of her savings in the end only to enjoy, and more precisely, to live a moment in her life with Fanda before the Reaper wields his sickle.Ed (Stanislav Zindulka) remains as a living image of friendship and a perfect companion and a sweet accomplice of Fanda in good and mischievous deeds. Ed's death at last tells upon Fanda which signifies the approach of autumn, though spring never fades in this movie - only changes colours at times which seem like autumn.Jara (Ondrej Vetchy), the prying and covetous vulture that he is, tries every opportunity to make his parents' life miserable. He spreads a shroud over the eyes of Emilie which she later clears off. He fails to do anything to Fanda - a master of and in his own terms.

A wonderful movie about a man who refuses to grow old. Autumn Spring revolves around Frantisek Hána, who is in Autumn of his life but mentally still lives in Spring. He loves fine dining and he still loves making pranks and he doesn't cares much for death. But he is kind hearted and generous, a good friend and still loves his wife.While Autumn Spring is mainly about living life to its fullest, it also about friendship, marriage and parent-child relationship. And it is also a very good character study.There are many good movies about people struggling with age of which Tokyo Story is my favorite. In Autumn Spring, the topic is handled in a fresh, loving and humorous manner, leaving the audience with a smile on their faces as the movie ends.

"Autumn Spring" tells of the misadventures of a dapper, walrus faced, 78 (approx) year old Czech man who haplessly befuddles and bemuses all who know him with his mischievous ways while his wife meticulously plans her funeral. Centerpiece Hana (Brodský) shows us how to get babes to kiss you when your 78 and how to cop a feel in an elevator and get thanked for it as he pranks his way from day to day in this warm and glowing look at old age and one man's creative, amusing, but socially unacceptable ways of enjoying life while refusing to be relegated to the old folk's home. "Autumn Spring" is a plodding, subtle comedy with messages for all ages which will have the greatest appeal with more mature foreign film buffs. (B+)

This film just won the best film award at the Cleveland International Film Festival. It's American title apparently is Autumn Spring. The acting is superb. The story takes you into the life of an elderly man who takes what life deals him and spikes it up a little bit. Abetted by his best friend (and partner in not-so-serious crime) he puts people on at every opportunity but still often reveals his heart of gold. His longsuffering wife has come to her wits end and makes a life-changing decision which is heartbreaking to watch. The resolution of the story is beautiful.