The Joke 1969

The scientist Josef Somr plays Ludvík Jahn, a man who returns to his hometown after two decades away. He is interviewed by Helena, an attractive older woman whom he begins to seduce. Jahn then discovers Pavel Zemánek, Luděk Munzar, is his old rival and the husband of Helena.

Jahn flashes back to his college days and his love for Markéta, Jaroslava Obermaierová, a devout believer in communism. In an attempt to win a brighter mood from the humorless Markéta, Jahn sends her a postcard that reads:

Optimism is the opium of mankind. A ‘healthy spirit’ stinks of stupidity. Long live Trotsky! Yours, Ludvík

Markéta turns the postcard over to the Party, and Jahn is brought before a Party hearing to answer for his words. Pavel, a friend who had pledged to help him, calls in the meeting for Jahn’s expulsion from the college and the Communist Party, and Markéta joins the vote against him.

Jahn then undergoes six years of reeducation, a harsh arc split between prison and army service in a technical auxiliary battalion under a sadistic drill sergeant. While in the army, Alexej, Miloš Rejchrt, a true believer in communism, appeals to higher authorities against the mistreatment; when the man is expelled from the Party, he commits suicide.

In the present, Jahn successfully seduces Helena, driven more by a desire for revenge on Pavel than by genuine attraction. Helena falls in love with him, but he discovers that she and Pavel have long been estranged, and Pavel has a new lover of his own. The only person hurt by Jahn’s attempted revenge is Helena. The film quietly unpacks how memory, ideology, and personal vendetta ripple through a life, leaving behind a trail of consequences that linger long after the plan is set in motion.