Empties

Josef Tkaloun has spent his working life teaching Czech literature, and one day he decides he can no longer reach his students. He quits in dramatic fashion, only to find that leaving the classroom costs him his place in the world. Rather than settle into idle retirement, he takes a job collecting empty bottles at a small supermarket, a position his wife Eliška finds embarrassing. Josef throws himself into the task and into the lives of the people around him, taking an interest in the customers and colleagues who pass through the shop.

The film is a Czech comedy directed by Jan Svěrák, released in 2007. It followed his 1996 film Kolya and preceded Three Brothers and Five plums in his filmography. Zdeněk Svěrák, who wrote the screenplay, plays Josef, with Daniela Kolářová as Eliška and Tatiana Dyková, Jiří Macháček, Pavel Landovský and Jan Budař among the supporting cast. Eric Abraham and Jan Svěrák produced.

On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 7.4/10 from five reviews, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.8/10 from 77 votes, indicating a modest but generally positive response from both critics and audiences.