LA PLAISANTERIE

By : Jaromil Jires

With : Stanislav Litera, Václav Svěrák, Evald Schorm, Věra Křesadlová, Jaromír Hanzlík, Josef Somr, Rostislav Volf
Rép. Tchèque, 1968, 83 min
zone 2, Noir & Blanc,


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English title : THE JOKE
Original title : ZERT

Directed by : Jaromil Jires

With : Stanislav Litera, Václav Svěrák, Evald Schorm, Věra Křesadlová, Jaromír Hanzlík, Josef Somr, Rostislav Volf
Czech Republic, 1968, 83 min
zone 2, black and white

Original Czech version, with French subtitles

Jaromil Jires directed THE JOKE in 1968, adaptating with Milan Kundera his novel about his disillusionment of communism. The plot focuses on Ludvik, an embittered man who seeks revenge for an incident occurred in his youth. He had sent a postcard to a prospective girlfriend in which he had sarcastically responded to something she had said about Trotsky. Some members of a Students Committee found the much talked-about card. Because of that, Ludvik is then expelled from the party and from the university, and then sent to jail for years of forced labor. Fifteen years later, an accidental encounter allows a possible revenge.

THE JOKE is released in 1968, which is a turbulent year in the Czech history. After a short period of increased liberalization, the Soviet Army invades Czechoslovakia, reestablishing a harsh regime. The film is banned and vanishes from Jires' official filmography. Jaromil Jires goes on by directing a highly allegorical film well acclaimed: VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDER.

Bonus : chapitering - restored master new subtitles · booklet 12 pages : review by Edouard Waintrop / Interview of J. Jires by Patrick Cazals / Interview of J. Jires by A. Liehm in "The Czech Film: Literature and cinema", by Zdena Skapova (extacts)


Watch a video excerpt :

La Plaisanterie
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