Czechoslovakia, 1970, Ester Krumbachová
You are probably already familiar with Ester Krumbachová as the great multi-hyphenate of the Czech New Wave, collaborating as screenwriter, costume designer and/or production designer on classics like Daisies, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Witchhammer and more. Murdering the Devil is her sole film as writer/director. In this hilarious and subversive anti-rom-com previously caught in censorship, a forty-something bachelorette yearns for affection from an old acquaintance, Mr. Devil. She prepares elaborate dinner dates, but her suitor reveals himself to be an uncouth, arrogant glutton who only cares about her cooking. As things get pushed to increasingly surreal ends, she comes face to face with the boyfriend from hell. A visual gem that gulps down male chauvinism bit by bit. Subtitles. 87 min.