Ecce Homo Homolka

Razor-sharp, darkly comic portrait of one ordinary Sunday gone spectacularly wrong.

Often considered the final film of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Ecce Homo Homolka—sometimes called A Report on the State of the Family—is a razor-sharp, darkly comic portrait of one ordinary Sunday gone spectacularly wrong.

Three generations of the Homolka family begin the day with an idyllic picnic in a forest outside Prague, where grandparents relax, twin boys splash in the river, and Heduš, Ludva’s quietly desperate wife, dances among the trees. A woman’s sudden cry shatters the idyll, leaving the family alone with their illusions. Back in their cramped Prague flat, the day unravels: horse races, football, drink, and small domestic humiliations—burnt steaks, a broken TV, marital confessions—ignite simmering tensions. The chaotic day culminates in a grotesque, unforgettable living room dance to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, where forced cheer masks underlying bitterness. Directed with unsparing wit by Jaroslav Papoušek, who alongside Forman and Passer shaped the New Wave, the film brilliantly captures the absurdities, frustrations, and materialist preoccupations of 1960s Czech family life.

Part of the 29th Made in Prague Festival, 31 October – 30 November 2025.