The Ear Details

This is one of the films “banned forever” by the Czech government in 1969, which finally emerged to great acclaim following the Velvet Revolution 20 years later. Directed with awesome control by Karel Kachyna, The Ear is a blistering combination of political allegory and domestic drama. Radoslav Brzobohaty is the epitome of paranoia as the minor official who arrives home from a blood-letting party function convinced that he is next in line for dismissal and arrest. His feuds with wife Jirina Bohdalova as they strip the house of incriminating evidence are excruciating in their bitterness and ferocity. Slightly outdated, but still masterly.

A skilled but claustrophobic domestic and political drama, which is partly filmed in semi-darkness to emphasize its atmosphere of betrayal, guilt and general malaise; though when characters emerge into the light it is for a sinister purpose.