Government bureaucrat Ludvik becomes suspicious after several colleagues disappear and he overhears something strange at a cocktail party. Returning home with his wife, Anna, he finds their house under surveillance and spends a fraught night worrying about his possible arrest in the morning. Marital difficulties come to light as Ludvik and his wife attempt to act normal in front of the cameras while dredging up their problems out of sight.
Direction
Kachyňa's camera prowls like another watcher.
Acting
Bohdalová's drunken monologue: masterpiece of unraveling.
Sound
Every creak and hum becomes threatening.
Director
Karel Kachyňa
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Banned immediately after the 1968 Soviet invasion, The Ear sat shelved for 20 years—Kachyňa himself banned from filmmaking. The delay made it a time capsule of crushed Prague Spring idealism.
The real 'ear' isn't the bugs—it's the audience, complicit in watching a marriage implode. Kachyňa implicates us in the surveillance state.
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