” Pupendo ” is a child’s game in which a joker promises something mystical and pleasurable to his victim and then delivers a sharp slap on the stomach.

Set in 1980s Prague the film traces the lives and ideological dilemmas of 2 couples as they negotiate an uneasy relationship with the regime.

A sculptor is ” discovered ” by the west via an obscure article written by one of his artistic admirers with whom he has some sort of past. The said sculptor makes a living mass producing pottery pigs in his ” studio “.

Enough said. The photography and settings are suitably dated as is presumably the music(Oskar Petr, Marsyas). The Manes gallery is instantly recognisable and provides a nice scene where the characters collide. The schoolmaster and art critic sip wine at the party while our hero ( presumably ) sails stoically by.

The film was shown at the Dublin and Toronto Film festivals. ( Screenplay Petr Jarchovsk, based on books by Petr Sabach )