In late 1990, several months after returning to a free Czechoslovakia after fifteen years in exile, Jan Němec began filming his adaptation of the absurdist novella The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch by the nonconformist philosopher Ladislav Klíma. At the time of its making, Němec’s wild and provocative postmodern phantasmagory about a decadent prince and his fated love for a mysterious commoner surprised many. Today the picture continues to provoke audiences with its playful impudence and, by the standards of the day, its incomprehensibility. This peculiar cinematic hallucination, featuring unforgettable creative input from artist Michael Rittstein, stars Jiří Bartoška, Ivana Chýlková, Boleslav Polívka, and musician Vilém Čok as the king.