Murdering the Devil (1970)
Line up: Mourning Becomes a Muse

 'Mourning Becomes a Muse' reconsiders Ester Krumbachová not as a figure lingering at the edges of the Czech New Wave, but as one of its most daring and essential architects. Blacklisted by the Communist regime and pushed to the margins of film history. A screenwriter, costume and set designer, and director, Krumbachová infused the movement with its surreal visual extravagance through collaborations with Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš and Jan Němec. 
 

Murdering the Devil

Ester Krumbachová | 1970 | Czechoslovakia | 72’ | EN subtitles

A long-neglected gem of feminist satire, the only feature solely directed by Ester Krumbachová. Murdering the Devil transforms domestic ritual into a darkly funny exploration of gender, loneliness, and power. Set almost entirely inside an ornate Prague apartment, the film follows an unnamed middle-aged woman known only as “Her,” who prepares lavish dinners for a former crush, the gluttonous Mr. Devil. As he devours endless meals while quoting Freud and Nietzsche to excuse his chauvinism, their nightly encounters grow increasingly absurd and grotesque.

“A woman in the kitchen was, once again, just a woman in the kitchen, not an inquisitive female Faust.”


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