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The Post Women... |
Until the middle of 2011
Conspirators of Pleasure
(1996), directed by
Czech surrealist and animator Jan
Svankmajer, was not available in the UK. Now thanks to New Wave Films it has
been released as part of a three-film box set available singularly for rent via
Love Film. The film combines live action with the use of both classical
animation of a rag mannequin and a rag doll. There’s no dialogue only background
music. This is another of my much admired black comedies which have recently
included my film of the year Holy
Motors (2012), Kaurismakie’s Calamari
Union (1985), God
Bless America (2011), the Norwegian crime thriller Jackpot
(2011) and of course the UK’s very own Sightseers
(2012). This time it’s about people governed only by the pleasure principle,
in Svankmajer own words, ‘a film about
freedom’.
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Mr Pivonka and ... |
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Mrs Loubalova... |
The central motif of the film is the
sado masochistic relationship between Mr. Pivonka and Mrs. Loubalova. This
relationship, realised by means of magic and with the help of a kind of
grotesque ritual voodoo, is coupled with the stories of minor characters including
a post women, a television newsreader, a newsagent and a police office. All kindred spirits that are connected through
their obsession with pleasure/desire/freedom.
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The Police Officer... |
Influenced by the writings of the
Marquis de Sade it has a theme that has been borrowed from Sigmund Freud. Freud
said that in each of us there is a
permanent conflict between the pleasure principle (which is anti social, non
conformist, and drives us to pursue our desire and freedom, ignoring social
scruples) and the reality principle (which is the moralising, limiting,
leveling repression brought by society, upbringing and school). According
to Freud, healthy psychological development requires a balance between these
two principles. Clearly the characters in this film are dominated by the
pleasure principle!
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The Newsagent.... |
Its certainly not your standard film and
indeed not for everyone, not so much a film about sex, as a film about human
nature which manifests it self in various sexual pleasures. Unusually an erotic
film that manages without scenes of sexual intercourse! Some wonderfully lewd
18th century pornographic drawings are used as opening credits
introducing something that completely unconventional, but extremely entertaining.
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and the television Newsreader. |
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