Faust (1994)

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Faust was the first Jan Svankmajer's movie I've seen and I've been literally stunned by his wicked and exotic interpretation of this classic plot. This is not a literal adaptation of the book written by Goethe, but a surreal combination of the different version of the original story (Like, for example, the play of Cristopher Marlowe) with stop-motion animation, live action performances and puppets. The result it's very interesting and well made, creating a unique and fascinating world. It's easy to see in what way filmmakers like Terry Gilliam, the brothers Quay were influenced by the astounding work of Jan Svankmajer: There is a great, dark atmosphere, filled with bizarre creatures and strange situations, like in the movies of those directors. If you love dark, surreal films, then you will like a lot this.

This is why I watch films. Every now and then I stumble across beautiful strange, unique films! Grotesque, macabre but with a very weird sense of humour present at all times, this stop-motion animation / puppet & real actors film has to be one of the strangest films. I am so happy to own it! Actually in the beginning I was not quite linking to the character Faust, as he was too alienated in whatever happened - but while it went on, it began to make sense in a deeper level than the simple surrealism I had thought in the first place.For all people interested in strange, weird films, black humour & fed up with the trash Hollywood serves us, then go for this spectacular film!

This is the first and only Jan Svankmeyer movie I have ever seen, and after viewing it I can't wait to see his others. Here, Svankmeyer basically juxtaposes a staged showing of the play FAUST with the story of the man who is kidnapped into playing Faust. As the film rolls on, the character's story and the actor's story become more and more indistinguishable. There are also a bunch of insane devil marionettes and the whole thing has the vibe of a medieval Punch and Judy show.Probably the main thing I liked about FAUST was the fact that, although it is a fairly surreal film, it doesn't go out of it's way to be strange for strangeness's sake [like the Czech film DAISIES or the Georgian REPENTANCE, though those are okay movies]. Sure, you have bizarre goings-on like a stop-motion fetus in a jar growing old and turning into a skull, but many of the details you thought were unrelated to the story all wrap up in a very pleasing manner.Of course, not all of your questions will be answered. I still don't understand the significance of the theater sets versus real scenery, or why Faust sometimes appears in his costume and sometimes in his regular trench coat. But I'm glad I don't completely get it--I like a movie to provoke thought rather than explain everything outright. Also, man, what's with the other comments saying this is an art-house flik, or only pretentious snobs will enjoy it? I work at a video store. We played FAUST on our TV just tonight, and at least ten customers were intrigued enough to stop what they were doing and watch it for a little while--far more people than when we played JERSEY GIRL the other day. Sure, FAUST is not for everybody, because not everybody likes unusual or even minorly challenging movies. Don't let the reverse-snobs scare you away.

Personally, I like this film. It's an imaginitive adaptation, and it definitely begs to be seen. I think, though, that Jan Svankmajer fans are likely to be disappointed. People unfamiliar with his work are likely to hate it. Now, I'm no expert in his work. I've seen three shorts and his version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, just called Alice in the U.S. The three shorts are all masterpieces in their own ways (my favorite being The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia) and Alice is a near-masterpiece. Faust is not nearly as inventive as those other works. Svankmajer is known as a stop-motion animator, but his Faust contains little animation. The animation that there is is universally stunning. I will bet that any fan of the medium will just love the sequence with the baby, and will probably wish that it were longer. Actually, the medium that is most abundant in Faust is marionettes. Most of the film is live action, as well. The marionettes are often replaced with actors wearing gigantic papier-mache heads. This isn't as interesting as stop-motion animation, but it still works. Some of the puppets can be annoying, especially the jester. I believe that the puppet characters are done in the kind of exaggerated style familiar to puppet shows. 7/10.