Lunacy (2005)
AKA: Sileni
Directed by: Jan Svankmajer
Starring: Pavel Liska (Jean Berlot), Jan Tríska (Marquis), Anna Geislerova (Charlota), Pavel Novy (Dominik), Martin Huba (Coulmiere), Jaroslav Dusek (Murlloppe)
Country: Czech Republic, European Cinema
Language: Czech (English subtitles)
Runtime: 01:57:29
Genres: Animation, Mental Illness, Satanism
Plot – Spoilers:
Jean Berlot is a poor and depressed man recovering from the recent death of his mother who was in a mental institution. He fears he might be carrying some of her madness and often has delusions of being grabbed by ward boys.
Berlot is befriended by a bizarre man who refers to himself as a Marquis. The Marquis has a certain financial and other clout that allows him to strut around like he were from a long-forgotten era. Berlot is grateful for the latter’s hospitality, but knows his social place and tries to leave. But when he witnesses a sex-infused ritual rooted in the Marquis’ pagan beliefs, he is drawn further into the Marquis’ strange world.
Lunacy has Jan Svankmajer’s mastery over stop-motion, this time involving lots of meat. There are some hilariously dark sequences involving chicken that are truly memorable in this loose adaptation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Marquis de Sade.
Great film.
This is great! Hilarious! I loved it & thank you…
brilliant fav
Absolutely original! 10/10
Beautiful work.
Thank you admin?
am i the only one not understanding anything here . is there anything to be understood even. (first werid artsy movie that i’ve watched, maybe thats it) also not-so-fun fact: marquis actor passed away in 2017
It is certainly a film that requires some background knowledge on a variety of complex subjects to be enjoyed to the fullest. You would need to have some background knowledge on the philosopher Marquis de Sade , the period of the time he wrote in which was during the French Revolution where an end to monarchism and French independence from the Catholic Church took place. Marquis de Sade was a notorious sadist and a sexual libertine which many back claimed was due to him being a heretic or atheist rather… This film contrasts both Right Wing Authoritarianism and Left , Authority-free Libertinism; I think the director seeks to display the extremes of each side. The film also comments on the different movements in criminology and science , with particular focus on psychology. Originally founders of the school of biological positivism such as Lombroso, took the biological, medical approach to exploring criminality and mental illness and often corporal punishment and other medical procedures were issued to criminals and mental hospital prisoners as a result. The biological positivist movement was very prominent during periods of the first and Second World War and because it first originated in Italy other axis/Authoritarian powers took on these schools of thought. Around the 60s and 70s (long after right wing authoritarianism was demolished in most western counties) the cognitive revolution took hold of science and the school of psychology in particular and more treatment based therapies were introduced with this , more democratic amend liberal ways… Read more »
Can someone point out the animation please – I watched the entire movie but did not see any animation – seemed like a normal movie to me – maybe I missed out something
the animation is stop-motion, which means successive pictures are taken depicting the objects in different positions, which creates the illusion of animation when sped up. –> here: moving meat
Artistic, original, multi-dimensional, psychological and philosophical. Full stars.
I absolutely love this one. It has a good plot. A deep, unpredictable movie with the right balance of everything dark and illuminating. The acting is superb.
The subs are there.
The intro by the director doesn’t have subs, but they resume after that.
I noticed it the other day. This is my first comment on this site, but I think I should comment more often. I was the “none” person above, but I was too lazy to type my actual name that day. I usually prefer to have stuff I post tied to my name.
I really loved this movie. Marquis de Sade acts like you would expect from him. The stop-motion stuff is interesting. The commentary on mental institutions is great. It was so much better than I expected.
I bookmark movies which show up in the recommendations on effedupmovies from time to time. This movie was really worth a watch. The movie cover isn’t that appealing, but the movie itself is great. It is packed with a ton of interesting stuff.
The subtitles of this one don’t seem to work.
I have the same issue
this film is amazing 10/10
For me, the film translates into an allegorical screenplay of a certain actual revolution that I still can’t quite put my finger on. Nonetheless, the methodological storytelling and dramatic peculiarities, namely the psych ward disrupted by the battle of the throne, play a monumental role in delivering its novel message.