Lunacy (2005)

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The films of Jan Svankmajer are NOT for everyone, that's for sure. His stop-motion films are ultra-bizarre and have a strange sensibility that set them apart. Calling them extremely disturbing is not at all an understatement--and "Lunacy" is often very disturbing and really weird.The film is based on the Poe story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and is unusual because most of the film is NOT stop-motion. The plot is essentially about a mental hospital in the 19th century where the patients have taken over and locked their tormentors in the basement. However, it takes a VERY long time to get to this plot and has a lot of strange stuff that Poe never intended--such as an overabundance of animated meat...yes, MEAT. Throughout the film, tongues and hunks of meat appear and move about using stop-motion for no discernible reason other than to make the film weird. Additionally, there is a lot of nudity and adult content that clearly make this a film you might not want to show your children, your mother or dead old Father O'Malley (especially because of the very blasphemous scene that takes place in a church-- it would give the old guy a heart attack).I do not recommend this film unless you like Svankmajer and know what you're getting into by selecting it. Instead, try seeing the recent version "Stonehearst Asylum"--a very intelligently made and satisfying incarnation of the Poe tale.

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.

The film opens with quite an unusual director's speech that invites us to consider what we are going to see as a pamphlet on our society rather than a work of art. So I did - and perhaps this is why the film left me slightly disappointed. As a work of visual art, it is superb, mesmerising and innovative, with little pieces of animation sandwiched between much larger parts played by actors. As far as the message is concerned, however, I was expecting more. Fair enough, the plot itself is quite perplexed and some of its turns will remain a puzzle even by the end of the film. But I kept thinking that if Haneke or, better still, Kieslowski were directing this film, the story would gain that subtlety and depth it was lacking.

This film is about the sadistic adventures of Marquis de Sade, and also the lunacy of two extreme ways of running a psychiatric asylum.I have seen Jan Svankmajer's films before, so I knew that this film would be bizarre and disturbing. Still, this film gravely shocked me. From the moving tongues to enucleation, this film was full of revolting and gory scenes. I almost felt sick during the film. I was also surprised to see a blasphemous scene involving a statue of crucifixion, which was shocking especially considering that the Czech Republic is a religious country.Fortunately, the story was gripping and engaging. It really kept me longing for more to unfold. Marquis' monologue questioning the existence of God was well composed, and gave new arguments (for me anyway) to the never ending debate of His existence. This film is not for the uptight or the light hearted.