The Jester

Valentin Uspensky positions himself as a gifted psychologist and introduces his method, shuteny (shute), which he uses to study and manipulate people around him. He believes his experiments can prevent future scars by preemptively pricking flaws. The school's environment becomes his testing ground.

He conducts controlled exercises on teachers, classmates, and strangers, testing boundaries of control and observation. He justifies each act as a noble effort to reveal external flaws and improve the world. The students and teachers begin to notice the unsettling pattern.

Among the interactions, the math teacher Igor Alexandrovich sees through Valentin's games and becomes the only figure who seems to empathize or understand his motives. This teacher's counterpoint anchors the moral tension in Valentin's experiments. The classroom becomes a shelter and a chessboard at once.

Irina, a classmate, is drawn to Valentin's unusual approach and starts provoking him. She pushes him to test his limits by asking to prick strangers and challenging his sense of control. Her presence marks a destabilizing dynamic in his plan.

Irina asks Valentin to prick random strangers, turning his experiments toward public, unpredictable targets. He follows through, crossing lines he previously kept intact, testing not only others but his own ethics. The line between theory and cruelty begins to blur.

Irina escalates the drama by proposing an intimate relationship and leading Valentin to her friends, where one is separated in a provocative display meant to provoke him. The social theatre amplifies his sense of being watched and judged. He reacts with a mix of fascination and revulsion.

Upset by the provocative display, Valentin reacts recklessly, sparking aggression from his peers and culminating in a physical altercation. The event exposes the vulnerability of his theory-driven persona. Classmates and authorities begin to question his methods.

Valentin returns home and rejects his parents' values, including his father's Japanese studies and his mother's devotion. The private sphere reveals his alienation from the conventional moral order he manipulates at school. The home becomes a counterpoint to his public experiments.

Driven by his belief in correcting flaws, Valentin pushes teachers and even the vice principal to the brink of emotional collapse. The school landscape becomes a labyrinth he navigates by psychological feats rather than arguments. His influence spreads beyond one teacher to the entire faculty.

Valentin conceives a psychological snare to trap Igor Alexandrovich, intending to outmaneuver him and prove his theory. He underestimates the teacher's ability to anticipate the trap, revealing a crucial flaw in his own strategy. The escalation moves toward a climactic confrontation.

Igor Alexandrovich sees through the trap and uses Valentin's own methods against him, leaving the student in a psychological disadvantage. The mentor's readiness shifts the power balance and exposes Valentin's vulnerability. The student is cornered by his own game.

The film intertwines four novellas—Jesters, The Jester's Love, The Jester's Illness, and The Last Jester—linking the events into one arc. Valentin's intellect and methods fail to reform others; he remains trapped in the cycle of pricking flaws. The ending suggests a grim continuity rather than a clear victory.