Filmy Jana Švankmajera

This weekend I watched some films by Jan Švankmajer. I watched "Little Otik" yesterday after I got home from work and "Conspirators of Pleasure" earlier today. I watch several of his short films too: "The Flat," "Food," "Dimensions of Dialogue," "Meat Love," "Flora," "The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia," "Darkness Light Darkness" and "The Garden." "Little Otik" ("Otesánek" in Czech) is built around a Czech fairy tale, "Otesánek," written by Karel Jaromir Erben in the Nineteenth Century. Both the story and the film are about a couple who cannot have children. The husband digs up a tree stump that resembles a baby, and after it has been trimmed it eventually comes alive and acts like a baby. But this baby has a voracious appetite. In the film in the building where the couple live there is a precocious girl. At first she is obsessed with reading a book on sex and reproduction, and she wonders why her neighbors do not have children. She wants them to have a child, because there are no other children in the building. The woman pretends to be pregnant for eight months. Then she brings Otesánek home. He cries for more and more food. The girl notices similarities between what is going on with her neighbors and the fairy tale, especially after the neighbor's cat has disappeared, and people start to disappear. She decides that she wants to protect Otesánek to keep him from being killed as he was in the fairy tale. The film has an ambiguous ending. "Conspirators of Pleasure" was inspired by the writings of the Marquis de Sade, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and others. It is about several people with sexual fetishes. The stories interweave at times. As in many of Švankmajer's films live action and animation are mixed. When each of the characters is thinking of his/her sexual fetish a particular kind of music is played for each character. At times the character is doing what would probably be considered innocent by a casual observer, but the character act as if they are afraid that observers can tell the fetish behind their actions. Pavel Nový acted in both of these films. I think he is very sexy. I won't go into great detail about the short films. Švankmajer's films have a strong surrealistic influence. "The Death of Stalinism In Bohemia" is for me a moving movie. In part of the film the Russian forces moving into Prague at the end of the "Prague Spring" are represented by rolling pins. The film ends with the Czech flag being painted on various items. As I have mentioned this is an image that moves me very much. in "The Garden" (filmed in 1968) a man brings a co-worker and long-time friend to visit him in the country. Around the grounds there is a hedge made up of people holding hands. There are hints that they do more than just stand there, a couple of men play "rock, paper, scissors" and a man is seen tenderly rubbing the hand of the women next to him. The woman seems to be pregnant. The visitor asks why they are there. And he is informed that they are there voluntarily. The reasons for some of the people being there is whispered and inaudible. The visitor eventually becomes part of the wall. "Darkness, Light, Darkness"begins with a tiny dark room. The light is turned on. Then various body parts start knocking on the door. There are doors on both sides of the room. The left hand enters first, then the eyes knock at the doors. The right hand comes next. The ears are seen flying like a butterfly outside the window. They are brought in and separated. The head appears at the door squealing like a pig. The ears are attached to the head, and the eyes are put into the sockets. The tongue is let in through one door, and the tongue opens the other door for the teeth. These are placed in the mouth. The brain knocks and lets itself in, and the top of the head is opened for the brain to be put inside. Next come the feet and shins. There is a loud banging at one of the doors. The hand looks out and is afraid to open the door. The the head and one hand struggle to keep the door closed while the other hand goes to get  a glass of water to pour on what is waiting outside. Next to enter: the cock and balls. The rest of the body comes in through the window as globs of clay. The body is put together with the genitals put on last. The body fills the room, and as the man is too big to leave the room he turns off the light. "Meat Love" has two pieces of meat cut off of a larger piece of meat. The two pieces of meat flirt with each other and dance. They start rolling around on a plate of flour like a couple on a beach. They seem to be fucking as they are picked up and thrown into a frying pan. This movie is about one minute in length. I have left out a lot of details about all of these films. "Dimensions of Dialogue" in one segment deals symbolically with communication that starts off well then disintegrates. "Food" seems to deal in different ways with eating as a symbol of some people having power over others. I may write more about this film later.