Jean Berlot is returning home after having attended his mother's funeral. She died in an asylum and Jean fears he's also developing madness too. One day he meets a mysterious Marquis who gives him a ride. This is the beginning of a journey that includes sacrilegious rites, a madhouse where the madmen have taken over, and unique methods to cure madness.
This is Jan Svankmajer's horror movie and it's not only one of his best movie, it's one of the best movies of the millennium so far. In terms of stop-motion animation interaction with the real world, I'd place this on the same level as Alice and Faust. In terms of inventiveness and surreal imagery, it's also one of his strongest.
Svankmajer drew inspiration from the Marquis de Sade and Edgar Allen Poe, and it shows. Horror and unreason pervade the movie. The Marquis, played by Jan Triska, is of course based on the popular perception of de Sade as a libertine who despised God and defended absolute freedom in the pursuit of excesses and pleasures. He turns a madhouse into his personal playground, manipulating the inmates into perverse games and drawing innocent to it.
The scenes in the asylum are terrifying; chaos and dirt abound, naked people destroy the furniture and walk around aimlessly indulging in their weirdest pleasures. At times I was reminded of Wojciech Has' The Hourglass Sanatorium, another great surrealist movie. Poor Jean is caught in the middle of this and tries to retain his sanity as best as he can.
There are many ambiguous things in the movie which will leave the viewer looking for answers that simply don't exist. There are also some amazing shots of moving meat that seem to have no relation with the main story. Just think about hunks of mean, tongues, eyes, bones, moving around as if alive. These little interludes are creepy and amusing in their own way.
This is a great movie and also a parable about our times, in which the director explores two approaches to rule society: through absolute freedom, with the madmen in charge; or through punishment, with peoples's lives controlled by others who think what is best for all. It's pretty clear where Svankmajer's loyalties lie in this matter; as an artist and surrealist, he preaches absolute freedom and this is his panegyric.
This is Jan Svankmajer's horror movie and it's not only one of his best movie, it's one of the best movies of the millennium so far. In terms of stop-motion animation interaction with the real world, I'd place this on the same level as Alice and Faust. In terms of inventiveness and surreal imagery, it's also one of his strongest.
Svankmajer drew inspiration from the Marquis de Sade and Edgar Allen Poe, and it shows. Horror and unreason pervade the movie. The Marquis, played by Jan Triska, is of course based on the popular perception of de Sade as a libertine who despised God and defended absolute freedom in the pursuit of excesses and pleasures. He turns a madhouse into his personal playground, manipulating the inmates into perverse games and drawing innocent to it.
The scenes in the asylum are terrifying; chaos and dirt abound, naked people destroy the furniture and walk around aimlessly indulging in their weirdest pleasures. At times I was reminded of Wojciech Has' The Hourglass Sanatorium, another great surrealist movie. Poor Jean is caught in the middle of this and tries to retain his sanity as best as he can.
There are many ambiguous things in the movie which will leave the viewer looking for answers that simply don't exist. There are also some amazing shots of moving meat that seem to have no relation with the main story. Just think about hunks of mean, tongues, eyes, bones, moving around as if alive. These little interludes are creepy and amusing in their own way.
This is a great movie and also a parable about our times, in which the director explores two approaches to rule society: through absolute freedom, with the madmen in charge; or through punishment, with peoples's lives controlled by others who think what is best for all. It's pretty clear where Svankmajer's loyalties lie in this matter; as an artist and surrealist, he preaches absolute freedom and this is his panegyric.