Regie:
Jaromil JirešKamera:
Jan ČuříkMusik:
Zdeněk PololáníkBesetzung:
Josef Somr, Jana Dítětová, Luděk Munzar, Jaroslava Obermaierová, Milan Švrčina, Miloš Rejchrt, Evald Schorm, Věra Křesadlová, Jaromír Hanzlík (mehr)Inhalte(1)
Ludvík Jahn returns to his native city after many years to meet the radio reporter Helena Zemánková, who plans to broadcast a story on a local traditional folk festival, Ludvík wants to have his revenge. Helena has no idea that Ludvík's interest in the meeting is not caused by her withering appeal but her husband's photograph which Ludvík spotted in her cigarette case. Fifteen years ago, Pavel Zemánek was Ludvík's faculty colleague, chairman of the faculty organization of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and also his best friend. At that time, Ludvík's colleague and love Markéta sent him from her training a letter full of swollen optimism and phrases. He sent her a reply on a postcard and closed his ironical message with the greeting "Long Live Trotsky!" His practical jokes, however, were not appreciated and, thanks to Pavel, Ludvík was expelled both from the party and the school and sent to military service with the so-called "Black Barons," Auxiliary Technical Battalions, then to military prison and finally for three year's work in the mines. Ludvík wants to have his revenge on the hated Pavel by seducing his wife. In a lent flat, Ludvík not too affectionately takes Helena into his power. When he learns that the Zemáneks marriage has been solely formal for many years already, he rejects the woman's infatuated chattering with contempt. Helena tries to commit suicide - which is as ridiculous and misshapen as Ludvík's desired revenge... (Verleiher-Text)
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Eine eher misslungene Adaption, deren Qualität nicht dadurch beeinträchtigt wird, dass Milan Kundera das Drehbuch geschrieben hat. Der erste Teil ist auf jeden Fall eine ausgezeichnete Idee, da das gesamte Disziplinarverfahren von Ludvík aus der Ich-Perspektive erzählt wird und sich auf den gealterten Ludvík bezieht, der auf Rache aus ist. Ein eher grundsätzliches Problem ist, dass die Komplexität des Buches nicht auf den Film übertragen werden konnte, und so reduziert sich die ganze Geschichte auf eine zynische Rachegeschichte eines gedemütigten, kaltblütigen Nihilisten. Logischerweise verschwand so nicht nur Ludvíks unglücklicher Versuch, sich selbst hinter dem ewigen Kreislauf der Masken zu finden, sondern auch viele wunderbare Momente des Buches (allen voran die Episode mit Lucia). Selbst die Verurteilung der Ideologie ist im Vergleich zu der Position, die Kundera in seinem Buch einnimmt, viel direkter und einfacher. Die Erkenntnis der gemeinsamen Schuld am Zustand der Welt und gleichzeitig der Ohnmacht gegenüber der Geschichte ist eine der starken Qualitäten des Textes, die im Film jedoch fehlt (das Drastische an Ludwigs Witz ist, dass alles, wofür er von seinen Kameraden verurteilt wird, von einem bestimmten Standpunkt aus betrachtet tatsächlich wahr ist). Ich denke, das musste so sein.
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Der Scherz weist natürlich eine hohe Qualität auf, wenn Milan Kundera beim Drehbuch aufgepasst hat. Ganz sicher ist dies keine solche Explosion wie die Unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Seins. Ich gewinne immer mehr den Eindruck, dass Kunderas Bücher nur sehr schwer zu verfilmen sind. Der Stil, in dem Der Scherz gedreht wurde, mit ständigen Schnitten, ist nichts für mich, vielmehr störte mich das. Es störte mich, dass die Handlung stark gekürzt war, trotzdem sind die schauspielerischen Leistungen mehr als anständig.
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"The Joke" is, above all, an exceptional literary work, one of Milan Kundera's best, and one of the finest novels about the atmosphere of the 1950s in Czechoslovakia. It is a bitter tale about how history can crush an individual, and how revenge may not taste sweet, and carrying bitterness throughout one's life means unnecessarily depriving oneself of much joy. It is a burden that marks everyone. One of the pivotal roles of Josef Somr, perfectly tailored to his acting style. Overall impression: 90%.
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Like the book on which it is based, the film version of The Joke is worthy of the Kundera name. The author collaborated on the screenplay, which was written before the book was published (though not before the book itself was written), thanks to which Jireš’s film works as a coherent bitter comedy independent of the book. The film is not harmed by the most significant change compared to the book, namely the distillation of the book’s multiple narrators into one – instead of specific language, the others are presented to us through the appropriate speech of the actors (Kostka’s brief chapters full of religious motifs are fully compensated for by the several-minute appearance of Evald Schorm, the moral authority of the New Wave). The determination in Josef Somr's otherwise sadly vacant gaze multiplies the tragicomic nature of Ludvík’s actions. Whatever he does, he ends up hurting himself or someone else. Would it be better if he did nothing? The flashbacks, in which we see others through Ludvík’s eyes and the characters speak directly to us (resulting in an actual dialogue with a past era), serve as ironic commentary on the present: the initiation of young children as new citizens x the treacherous beasts that they will most likely grow up to be; traditional folk music x hard work in the mines. Irrational laughter is offered as the only reasonable solution. Like Kundera the author, Kundera the screenwriter warns against forgetting the past without sliding into moralistic preaching. Besides Ludvík, who is frozen in the past like the eggnog at the end of Passer’s Intimate Lighting, most of the characters behave as though there was no “then”. The impossibility of determining what is better gives rise to an intense, long-lasting feeling of futility. 80%
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Jokes aside... Collective enthusiasm for building has turned into individual destruction, and a bitter soul seeking revenge stands against the culprit whose guilt has found no conscience. Essentially an Eastern, where horses gallop, the vendetta comes off as bleak, and the only lightness is found in the beatings. And no one listens to the advice of the silent mason on the eternal divine construction site.
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