Jakubisko’s dreamlike, tragicomic final film to be made under the failing communist regime (albeit a West German co-production) dared to explicitly tackle – and, moreover, burlesque – the Stalinist era. Aesthetically and thematically echoing Birds, Orphans and Fools from 20 years prior, and with glorious cinematography from Laco Kraus, it concerns another trio of outsiders who unite to establish an unorthodox household and keep at bay the world’s madness – here, in the chaotic immediate aftermath of World War II, in an abandoned Jewish bakery.

Digital print courtesy of the Slovak Film Institute.