on shelves and screens this month • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

While we’re on the subject of skewering the ridiculous things smart, beautiful, fierce women will do to keep some half-wit lump on the line—Murdering the Devil is the lone film from Ester Krumbachová, a figure whose work as a screenwriter, costumer and designer surfaces throughout the Czech New Wave, but whose time in the forefront as a director was sadly limited.

Two of Krumbachová’s most famous credits are as a co-writer and creative consultant on Daisies. The through line between the two movies is obvious, and delicious: Shots of succulent roasted ducks and delicate cream-covered cakes abound in this tongue-in-cheek fairy tale, about a lonely woman (Jiřina Bohdalová) who sets out to court a boorish man named Mr. Devil (Vladimír Mensík) with elaborate home-cooked meals—until he reveals himself to be a literal demon, not just the slovenly mansplaining human kind.

The energy is magically screwball, and in retrospect Murdering the Devil plays, as Antonius writes, as “a satire of male behavior so scathing that it might serve as a ‘what not to do’ instructional video.” Krumbachová’s voice is unabashedly feminine and witchy—Mosquitodragon writes that they found the cooking and kitchen scenes “redolent of traditional pre-Christian witchery”—and the film’s subversive message, about how men will take and take and take from you until there’s nothing left, is delivered with a sardonic and whimsical touch. (These qualities, plus the fact that Krumbachová did the film’s art direction, costumes, and music as well as writing and directing, bring to mind Anna Biller’s The Love Witch—fans of that film should definitely check this one out.)

Murdering the Devil was a little too light for its politically charged times, in fact, and Krumbachová became something of a ghost on the Czech film scene after the film was rejected by her peers. Even a 2005 documentary reclaiming her legacy by Daisies director Věra Chytilová harshly criticized the Devil. But based on recent reactions to a new 4K restoration, its time may have finally come. Krumbachová’s redemption arc has passed through a number of international film festivals in 2024, and will land theatrically at Metrograph in NYC this month as part of a series celebrating her work.