In the film The party and the guests a powerful landowner celebrates his birthday and combines the feast with the marriage of a couple in the nearby village. The villagers gather for the party on the fields next to a lake, where the landowner has placed dining-tables. He is the patron of an artist, who likes to play rather morbid and sadistic games. The guests are appalled with the behavior of the artist, but the richness of the landowner induces them to stay. Thet rush to sit on deceits (joke). Only one of the guests decides to leave (even his wife stays behind). After a while the artist stirs up the guests, and convinces them to hunt down the deserter. Obviously the narrative is rather oppressing. It shows how weak the mutual solidarity is, and how easily people are seduced by wealth. The combination of richness and power fosters a personality cult. The film criticizes the extravagances of capitalism and totalitarianism and perhaps fascism. During the hunt the guests glorify the Alsatian sheepdog, with aperitif of impressive size in its mouth (joke). Some spectators argue that the film contains also a criticism of the Leninist system, but I don't see it. Remember that its production has been paid by the state! Indeed the film was banned, but the reason probably was that the censors didn't like its style. You winsome, you lose some (pun intended). The producer Nemec exposes the social corruption, similar to the Nouvelle Vague of Jean-Luc Godard, but refrains from actually commenting. On the other hand, the orthodox censors adore proletarian realism. Stories should contain at least some elements of proletarian solidarity, and preferably some proletarian symbolism (for instance a picture of Lenin, or a red banner). It should be clearly elevating. To be fair, I agree with them. Or perhaps the censors simply didn't like or trust Nemec any more. If Leninist films interest you, see my other reviews. Needless to say that I welcome comments.
Review of A Report on the Party and Guests
