A clever, surrealist spin on the battle-of-the-sexes farce in which a lonely woman, while courting a potential suitor, invites the literal devil into her home, Ester Krumbachova's The Murder of Mr. Devil is a striking, outre vision of feminine liberation. Machismo and male chauvinism are heightened and lambasted accordingly, with Killing of the Devil delivering a pointed and potent display of male hubris. There is a directness intrinsic to this film in part to its narrative simplicity, with the film be focused on the courting process using it as a device for its thematic intentions centered around empowerment and liberation. Straightforward but still incisive, Killing The Devil exhibits an understanding of the transformative nature of such societal power when wielded by one faction, displaying through its farce-like construction the deteriorating effects machismo has on femininity, particularly how fragility isn't intrinsic to the female form but a reaction to its allotment as a secondary societal status. Draped in surrealism and art direction which has grown to be relatively synonymous with Czech cinema from this particular epoch, Killing The Devil is a singular formalist construction in which female empowerment is encouraged through surrealist designs.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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