The Cremator

The Cremator centres on Karel Kopfrkingl, the manager of a crematorium in a small Czech town, who takes genuine satisfaction in preparing bodies for burning and believes the rite spares the dead further earthly suffering. He runs his household with the same measured control, alongside his wife and two children. When the Nazis take over Czechoslovakia, an acquaintance named Walter Reinke convinces him that German blood runs in his veins, and Kopfrkingl begins to see the new order as a route to advancement. His wife's Jewish origins and his son's Jewish friends stand in the way of that ambition.

Juraj Herz directed and co-wrote the film with Ladislav Fuks, adapting Fuks's novel. It was Herz's first feature-length fiction film, followed three years later by Morgiana. Rudolf Hrušínský leads the cast as Kopfrkingl, with Vlasta Chramostová, Jana Stehnová, Miloš Vognič, Ilja Prachař and Zora Božinová among the thirty-six credited performers. Made by the Barrandov studio and running 101 minutes, the film mixes comedy, crime, drama and horror.

Its reputation has held up. On IMDb it averages 8 out of 10 across roughly 13,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.8 out of 10 from a much smaller number of users. A critics' rating of 8.5 out of 10, drawn from nine reviews, places it above both audience scores.