Directed by:
Jan ŠvankmajerScreenplay:
Jan ŠvankmajerCast:
Václav Helšus, Klára Issová, Zuzana Kronerová, Daniela Bakerová, Emília Došeková, Marcel Nemec, Jan Počepický, Jana Oľhová, Pavel Nový, Karel Brožek (more)Plots(1)
Eugene leads a double life – one real, the other in his dreams. In real life he has a wife called Milada; in his dreams he has a young girlfriend called Eugenia. Sensing that these dreams have some deeper meaning, he goes to see a psychoanalyst, Dr. Holubova, who interprets them for him. Gradually we learn that Eugene lost his parents at a tender age and was brought up in an orphanage. Apart from the lovely Eugenia and her little boy Peter, another figure appears regularly in his dreams – a filthy old woman who keeps warning him not to harm Eugenia. In another he is confronted by a man called Milan, who claims to be Eugenia’s husband and little Peter’s father, and tries to extort money from him. By now Eugenia is expecting Eugene’s child – to the dismay of Dr. Holubova, who believes Eugenia is in fact his anima. And getting your anima pregnant is worse than incest. Meanwhile Milada suspects Eugene is having an affair and starts following him. She confronts Holubova, assuming she is the other woman, and instead learns all about her husband’s double life. In another dream, Eugene accidentally causes Milan’s death during an argument. Milada spies on Eugene’s ritual in the studio, then copies it to gain access to his dream-world. Finding Eugenia, she tells her of Eugene’s bigamy. Both women are devastated. In his studio Eugene is amazed to find an old photograph of Eugenia with little Peter and Milan. He tracks down the photographer who used to work there, who sheds light on what really happened to his parents... (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (2)
Švankmajer's work has played a significant role in shaping my cinematic taste, and to this day I have a great fondness for it. Perhaps no other director has received as many five-star ratings and praise in reviews from me. I considered his feature films to be one of the few exceptions in the dullness and stagnation of Czech productions. This is the first case in his long filmography where I shrug my shoulders and say that the chosen form is disturbing to me and the result is simply boring in some passages. I have never before found myself looking at my watch during a Švankmajer film. I usually saw his feature films in movie theaters, and the only reason that didn't happen with this one was because it was ignored by movie theaters in southern Bohemia. The Czech master of animation can actually be glad to have a large group of loyal fans who, in this case, I believe have supported him somewhat. This is a tired film where even the visual aspects do not hide the meager budget. Overall impression: 55%.
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They may not be like his other films, but even the later Švankmajer films stand out above anything that is commonly produced in the Czech Republic. Flat animation, surrealism, the good old Sigmund Freud, montages based on Max Ernst and Klára Issová as the perfect anima. I'm satisfied with it. Only next time it will need more actors and not just models.
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