Ecce homo Homolka

It is a beautiful Sunday and the Homolka family are having a picnic in a forest not far from Prague. The grandfather and grandmother have settled comfortably in the grass, their son Ludva romps about in the river with his two young twin sons and his podgy wife Heduš dances among the trees, while the beer gets cooled in the water. A young couple embrace in the nearby bushes. A voice of a woman calling for help disturbs the idyll. Masses of people, unnoticed until now, begin to leave the forest in haste. The Homolka family returns to their shared flat in Prague. The meal, which would have been delicious in the forest, seems somewhat improvised at home. The grandmother, twins and Heduš set off for Chuchle to watch horse races. The grandfather gets ready to watch a game of football and Ludva, who could not persuade Heduš to join him in watching this "male" game, is forced to join his family on their excursion. He gets drunk at a stand in Chuchle and this has terrible consequences. Exhausted by the hangover, Ludva becomes a witness and co-conspirator in a number of disastrous squabbles and settling of wrongdoings among the members of his family. Their TV set breaks down, and the family is left to its own resources. The grandfather has to make the double bed after he has messed it up, and this ruins his high spirits after the football. The grandmother burns the steaks she was frying for dinner black. The Sunday is over. Heduš cries because she is fat and unhappy, the grandmother joins in, and the men are miserable to have made such failures of their marriages. The two couples finally dance to Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which is heard on the radio. (Verleiher-Text)