FILM

Czech Republic 2010 109 mins Subtitles Dir: Jan Svankmajer Starring: Vaclav Helsus, Klara Issova, Zuzana Kronerova, Daniela Bakerova, Emilia Dosekova

Five years on from 'Lunacy', his fabulous "infantile tribute" to Edgar Allen Poe, the great septuagenarian Czech animator and surrealist Jan Svankmajer returns in a more jovial mood than usual with what he describes in his intro as a "psychoanalytical comedy". The droll director insists that his decision to use stop-motion animated paper cut-outs interspersed with close-ups of actors is "not a formal experiment, just a poor substitute for a live-action film" because he has no money. Within the first five minutes, we're hit with a barrage of giant fruit, Gilliam-esque buildings with feet, teddy bears with erections, and a naked woman with a chicken's head.

When things calm down a bit, it's revealed that this is a dream enjoyed by an unprepossessing middle-aged gent named Eugene (Helsus) in which he falls for a receptive, vivacious young woman (Issova) who's a lot sexier than his dour wife (Kronerova). Naturally, he's eager to return to this erotic dreamworld, but his GP suggests he needs psychoanalysis rather than sleep-inducing medication. So as Eugene pops in and out of the land of nod, where Ms Sexy always has a different name beginning with the letter E and is occasionally equipped with a husband (Helsus in a wig) and/or a young son, increasingly alarmed shrink Dr. Holubova (Bakerova) attempts to decode the meaning of his encounters. Meanwhile, the portraits of Freud and Jung above her desk listen intently and occasionally slug it out.

This is all highly entertaining and, for all its surrealism, oddly moving as matters take a predictable turn for the Oedipal. And who couldn't admire a film in which the protagonist's super-ego manifests itself as a halitosis-ridden old hag? (Robin Askew)

Website www.bontonfilm.cz/prezit-svuj-zivot.html

Opens: 16 Dec

Copyright Robin Askew 2011