The Pistol

A spry old lady (Tidblad), tired of living alone for 30 years in a servantless but immaculately clean mansion, decides to commit suicide. Setting about repairing an antique pistol which is a family heirloom, she temporarily regains the will to live through the friendship of a gentlemanly antique-dealer (Westergren), and in gratitude makes him a present of the now fully-functioning pistol. When he unaccountably puts the piece up for sale, she smashes his shop window and steals it back. Written, directed and photographed by Jiri Tirl, a Czech-born cameraman, The Pistol aspires to the tone of a Chekhov chamber-drama, but turns out as little more than a pretty, but essentially empty, photo-essay on an old lady and a stately home.