A Prominent Patient

In the winter of 1939 Jan Masaryk, the former Czechoslovakian Ambassador to London, is admitted to a sanatorium in New Jersey. His fragile physical and mental health is no coincidence: he is suffering because the governments of Great Britain and France have abandoned him and his country. As a result of diplomatic tactics and the signing of the Munich Agreement these major powers have condoned Nazi Germany’s invasion of its neighbour – bringing Europe one step closer to the Second World War. Masaryk believes that he has failed as a diplomat and brought shame on the legacy of his father, Tomas – Czechoslovakia’s founder and first president. But he is not alone: he receives support in the shape of German psychiatrist emigré Dr Stein and American novelist Marcia Davenport who help him cast out the demons of his past. A biopic about the power and impotence of diplomacy on the eve of a world war, and a tribute to the work of Jan Masaryk (1886–1948) who, from 1940 onwards, served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Prague’s government in exile in London.