HEAD – HANDS – HEART

Prague, 1914: Major von Haukwitz of the Austro-Hungarian army meets with a grotesque death while taking part in a mysterious ritual. His fiancée, the actress Klára Knabelová, makes a horrifying discovery at the morgue: the corpse is lacking arms and legs. The police detectives investigating the case can offer no explanation. It all smacks of a conspiracy: was the major part of an occultist group hoping to exploit the outbreak of war for the purposes of accomplishing the energetic transformation of the world? Klára embarks on an affair with Heinrich Roth, a lieutenant who gradually reveals a few secrets about his friendship – and spiritual bond – with her late fiancé. Klára decides to go home to the family farm. Meanwhile a detective sets out to find the major’s missing limbs. David Jarab’s surreal images reveal how the head, hands and heart of the dead man awaken to new life; cockerel breeding has a part to play, along with a country home with its own pet lion. A parable, disguised as a historical film, about a society in decline, a world shaken by irrational forces. And at the same time a portrait of a strong woman who puts up resistance to the insanity of her times.