''The Joke'' ( cs, Žert) is a 1969 Czechoslovak film by director
Jaromil Jireš
Jaromil Jireš (10 December 1935 – 24 October 2001) was a director associated with the Czechoslovak New Wave movement.
His 1963 film '' The Cry'' was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. It is often described as the first film of the Cze ...
. It is considered one of the last films of the
Czech New Wave
The Czechoslovak New Wave (also Czech New Wave) is a term used for the Czechoslovak filmmakers who started making movies in the 1960s. The directors commonly included are Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Pavel Juráček, Jiří Men ...
movement.
Based on
Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...
's 1967
novel of the same name, ''The Joke'' tells the story of Ludvík Jahn, a man expelled from the
Czechoslovak Communist Party
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...
for an idle joke to his girlfriend, and the revenge he later seeks through adultery. The film was produced during the political liberalization of the 1968
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
and contains many scenes which satirize and criticize the country's communist leadership.
Amos Vogel Amos Vogel ( Vogelbaum; April 18, 1921 – April 24, 2012) was a New York City cineaste and curator.
Biography
Vogel was born in Vienna, Austria. He fled Austria with his parents after the Nazi Anschluß in 1938 and at first studied animal husband ...
wrote that the film was "possibly the most shattering indictment of totalitarianism to come out of a Communist country".
Plot
The scientist Ludvík Jahn returns to his hometown after two decades away. He is interviewed by Helena, an attractive older woman whom he begins to seduce. Jahn then discovers Helena is married to Pavel, an old rival.
Jahn flashes back to his college days and his love for Markéta, a devout believer in communism. In an attempt to make the humorless Markéta lighten up, Jahn sends her a postcard reading "Optimism is the opium of mankind. A 'healthy spirit' stinks of stupidity. Long live Trotsky! Yours, Ludvík". Markéta turns the postcard over to the Party, however, and Jahn is brought before a Party hearing to answer for his words. Pavel, a friend who had pledged to help him, calls in the meeting for Jahn's expulsion from the college and the Communist Party, and Markéta joins the vote against him.
Jahn then undergoes six years of "reeducation", which are split between prison and army service in a
technical auxiliary battalion under a sadistic drill sergeant. While in the army, Alexej, a true believer in communism, appeals to higher authorities against their treatment; when the man is consequently expelled from the Party, he commits suicide.
In the present, Jahn successfully seduces Helena, motivated more by a desire for revenge on Pavel than attraction to her. Though Helena falls in love with him, he discovers that she and Pavel have long been estranged, and Pavel has a new lover of his own. The only person hurt by Jahn's attempt at revenge is Helena.
Cast
*
Josef Somr
Josef Somr (14 April 1934 – 16 October 2022) was a Czech actor. He was noted for starring in the Oscar-winning 1966 film ''Closely Watched Trains'', as well as in '' The Joke''.
Early life
Somr was born in Vracov, Czechoslovakia, on 14 Apri ...
as Ludvík Jahn
*
Jana Dítětová
Jana Dítětová, née Kalabzová (7 October 1926 – 9 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak film actress. She appeared in 40 films between 1942 and 1988. She was married to Czech actor Josef Vinklář.
Selected filmography
* '' Happy Journey' ...
as Reporter Helena Zemánková
*
Luděk Munzar
Luděk Munzar (20 March 1933 in Nová Včelnice – 26 January 2019 in Modřany, Prague) was a Czech actor. He appeared in the Czech New Wave film '' The Joke'' ( Jaromil Jireš, 1969) and starred in the film '' Poslední propadne peklu'' und ...
as Pavel Zemánek
*
Jaroslava Obermaierová
Jaroslava Obermaierová (born 10 April 1946 in Prague) is a Czech actress. She starred in the 1969/1970 film ''Witchhammer'' under director Otakar Vávra, as well as the TV-series Ulice.
References
1946 births
Living people
Actresses fro ...
as Markéta Pospíšilová
*
Evald Schorm
Evald Schorm (15 December 1931 – 14 December 1988) was a Czech film and stage director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 26 films between 1959 and 1988. Schorm was a notable exponent of the Czech Film New Wave.
Biography
Schorm was bo ...
as Laboratory assistant Kostka
* Věra Křesadlová as Věra Brožová, Zemánek's girlfriend
*
Jaromír Hanzlík
Jaromír Hanzlík (born 16 February 1948) is a Czech actor.
Selected filmography Film
* '' Coach to Vienna'' (1966)
* '' Romance for Bugle'' (1967)
* '' Maratón'' (1968)
* ''Slasti Otce vlasti'' (1969)
* '' The Joke'' (1969)
* ''A Night at Ka ...
as Commander
* Michal Pavlata as Technician Jindra Tkadlečka
Production
The character Pavel Zemánek was inspired by
Pavel Kohout
Pavel Kohout (born 20 July 1928) is a Czech and Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a Prague Spring participant and dissident in the 1970s until he was not allowed to return from Au ...
. Jireš wanted to cast him in the movie, but eventually decided to cast a professional actor
Luděk Munzar
Luděk Munzar (20 March 1933 in Nová Včelnice – 26 January 2019 in Modřany, Prague) was a Czech actor. He appeared in the Czech New Wave film '' The Joke'' ( Jaromil Jireš, 1969) and starred in the film '' Poslední propadne peklu'' und ...
. In the role of prisoner Alexej, Jireš cast a priest and later
Charter 77
Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něm ...
spokesman Miloš Rejchrt. The film was shot in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
Uherské Hradiště
Uherské Hradiště (; german: Ungarisch Hradisch, hu, Magyarhradis) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration with the two neighbouring towns of Staré Město and Kunovice has over ...
,
Olomouc
Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019).
Located on th ...
,
Most
Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to:
Places
* Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria
* Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic
** Most District, a district surrounding the city
** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city
** A ...
and
Vlčnov.
Reception
''The Joke'' was released in 1969, some months after the August 1968
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
had put an end to the freedoms of the Prague Spring. Though it was a success in theaters, authorities banned it for the next twenty years, making it "one of the New Wave's most renowned casualties".
[
The film was released on VHS in 2002 by ]Facets Video
A facet is a flat surface of a geometric shape, e.g., of a cut gemstone.
Facet may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Facets (album), ''Facets'' (album), an album by Jim Croce
* Facets (Monty Alexander album), ''Facets'', a 1980 alb ...
and on DVD in 2012 by the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
's Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...
line.[
Criterion essayist Michael Koresky described the film as "the definitive take on the Stalinist era in Czechoslovakia".][ '' Cineaste'' stated that ''The Joke'' was "a modest, quiet film" that was "permeated with irony", though its ironic juxtapositions were occasionally heavy-handed, such as cutting between a group singing the revolutionary song "No More Masters" and Jahn and other prisoners breaking rocks in a quarry.]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joke (film), The
1969 films
1960s Czech-language films
1969 drama films
Czechoslovak drama films
Films directed by Jaromil Jireš