Four out of
Five stars
Running time:
109 mins
If Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka and Salvador Dali were a collective of filmmakers, their output may well resemble the absurd visions of Czech animator Jan Svankmajer. After a five year break from directing, the 77 year old surrealist wizard returns with a beautifully crafted animated fantasy about a man obsessed with his dreams.
What’s it all about?
All of Jan Svankmajer’s films have a dream-like quality to them, but this is his first to actively concentrate on and explore the subconscious realm of sleep. Middle-aged clerk Milan (Václav Helsus) is a man obsessed with his dreams. Every night, whilst fast asleep next to his unsuspecting wife Milady (Zuzana Krónerová) he disappears into a strange world where he meets a young woman, who each night assumes a different name beginning with ‘E’. Desperate to spend more time with her, instead of going to work he takes sleeping pills. As the woman becomes pregnant, Milan visits a psychoanalyst who tries to delve into his past to interpret these subconscious visions.
The Good
Those new to the bizarre world of Jan Svankmajer will be in for a treat from the start of Surviving Life as the animator himself appears in full cut-out mode to introduce the film, explaining that it was supposed to a regular feature, but due to budget restraints, he had to resort to animation. Few will complain though.
While the film may lack money, it’s by no means short on imagination. And Svankmajer’s combination of close-up live action shots of the actors’ faces and animated landscape sequences perfectly captures the dream-like state where weirdness and normality blend together – far more so than plain live action could. Certainly, it’s not quite as sadistic or gruesome as some of his past films, but Svankmajer still pulls off some memorably visceral and grotesque moments – in particular one scene of two giant tongues protruding out of buildings and caressing each other across the street.
The Great
While the fragmented plot – which revolves around Milan’s childhood – is pretty transparent, the joy of Svankmajer’s film lies in the smaller visual details: humans merged with alligators, chickens, even skulls for heads are just some of the delights for the retina that Svankmajer offers. Portraits of Freud and Jung hanging on the psychoanalyst’s wall also charmingly come to life, bickering with each other or in one nice touch, despairing at the psychoanalyst’s interpretations.
Worth Seeing?
Surrealism is rarely let loose on the big screen and Surviving Life – part absurd comedy, part romance, part musing on dreams – is worth the admission price for its mad-hatter visuals alone.