THE EAR (Karel Kachyna, 1970)

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(Directed by Karel Kachyna from a script by Kachyńa and Jan Prochazka and starring Radoslav Brzobohaty and Jiřina Bohdalová. Released 01 January 1990; watched 2023w34 via Criterion Channel.)

A still from Karel Kachyna's THE EAR: leads Brzobohaty and Bohdalova look at one another with dread by candlelight

Perhaps a herald of the return to my Czech New Wave obsession from last Spring: an amazing film. Leads Brozobohaty (the main farmer in ALL MY GOOD COUNTRYMEN) and Bohdalová – married in real life either during filming or shortly thereafter – are incendiary as Ludvik and Anna, a deputy minister and wife whose ten year anniversary (of a marriage seemingly doomed from day one) is smothered by a night of paranoia, dread, suspicion, drunken revelry, and an omnipresent sensation of uncertainty against the backdrop of authoritarian rule.

Far more reserved in its execution than previous contributors to my CNW obession, THE EAR is no less revelatory: filmed in 1970, banned until the fall of Communism, and released to accolades in 1990, it's THE CONVERSATION before THE CONVERSATION, THE LIVES OF OTHERS before THE LIVES OF OTHERS – and more brutal than either: a haunting, searing must-watch.