Ester Krumbachová is one of the lesser known figures to have emerged from the Czech New Wave of the 1960s and early 1970s.  A regular collaborator with better known filmmakers Věra Chytilová. and Jan Nemec (to whom Krumbachová was briefly married), she worked as a screenwriter and costume designer on some of the period’s most iconic films, as well as directing one film from her own screenplay.  Many of her films revolve around food and feasting -often as a symbolic manifestation of greed and corruption - so she makes a fitting heroine for our Gastroplex Weekend!

In The Murder of Mr Devil, a young woman attempts to seduce a mysterious older man by wooing him with food.  His insatiable appetite and appalling table manners turn out to be the least of her problems.  How does one deal with a date that may literally be from hell?   By getting in touch with one’s inner Delia Smith and giving them a meal they’ll never forget.

Showing the same flair for humour and satire as her previous works with Chytilová and Nemec, Krumbachová s rarely screened sole directorial effort is a searingly surreal exploration of the age-old battle of the sexes that feels as fresh and relevant today as when it was made.