One terrible day a young scientist named Paul loses everything when his friend, the cunning aristocrat Baron Regnard, steals his research and his wife. After receiving a slap from the Baron, Paul has a breakdown and becomes a circus clown who performs a masochistic ritual each night in the ring – taking slaps in the face for the amusement of the crowd. He Who Gets Slapped is a beautiful introduction to the work of V. Sjöström. It is an example of his psychological realism, but also his capacity to manipulate the sinister forces swirling around his characters – whether they are spectres from the afterlife, extreme weather, religious puritanism or simply gales of laughter.
The film will be accompanied by Mantas Ralovėcas (guitar), Girmantė Bubelytė (accordion) and Frank Bockius (percussion).
