Ludvik, a Communist official, arrives back home with his wife after spending the evening at a government function where he finds out that several of his colleagues have been ‘relieved’ of their responsibilities. Once he is inside he discovers that his house is bugged and that ‘The Ear’ of the government has been listening to him. When the electricity goes in his house and he sees a group of shady men waiting outside his house, he fears that he is the next one to go… —IMDb
Distinguished Czechoslovakian filmmaker Karel Kachyna is best known for his psychological dramas that take piercing looks into the lives of children and young teens. Born in Vyskov, Czechoslovakia, Kachyna was among the first to graduate from Prague’s film school FAMU, where he initially studied cinematography. During the early ‘50s, Kachyna collaborated on short and feature-length documentaries with former classmate Vojtech Jasný. The two collaborated on their fictional feature-film debut Dnes Vecer Vsechno Skonci/Everything Ends Tonight in 1954, but then went their separate ways. In 1956, Kachyna made his first solo film but did not make much impact until the early ’60s, when he began collaborating with scenarist Jan Prochazka. Together the two made films that strained the boundaries of government-imposed strictures and subtly criticized the Communist Party. Favorite themes include war, the revolution, and psychological analysis of certain types of behavior. Kachyna and Prochazka’s… read more
"The Ear is as much Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as 1984, with a helping of Seconds for the flashbacks to the official party they've just come from, replaying idle chat that seems menacing in retrospect". (Sam Adams)
