SURVIVING LIFE

Homage

Eugene, an elderly man, keeps dreaming about a woman he has never met – but she seems oddly familiar in all the different versions of his dream. He consults a psychoanalyst in order to find out what the recurrent dream means. The specialist establishes that her classically neurotic patient (suf- fering from childhood trauma, Oedipus complex) is resistant to therapy: enchanted by the woman of his dreams, Eugene does not want her to be explained away. In a dream world overflowing with Freudian symbols, psychoa- nalysis can explain things, but offers no assistance. The director’s prelude is of similarly biting irony: his film has nothing to do with experiments with form, he claims, the animations were necessary due to the tight production budget. A psychological comedy with Oedipal complications.
PŘEŽIT SVŮJ ŽIVOT / SEIN LEBEN ÜBERLEBEN
CZE, SVK 2010 / 105 min
Director: Jan Švankmajer
  • Screenplay: Jan Švankmajer
  • Cinematographer: Jan Růžička,Juraj Galvánek
  • Animation: Martin Kublák,Eva Jakoubková,Jaroslav Mrázek
  • Cast: Václav Helšus,Klára Issová,Zuzana Kronerová
  • Producer: Jaromír Kallista
  • Production Company: Athanor Film Production Company - Czech Republic
Eugene, an elderly man, keeps dreaming about a woman he has never met – but she seems oddly familiar in all the different versions of his dream. He consults a psychoanalyst in order to find out what the recurrent dream means. The specialist establishes that her classically neurotic patient (suf- fering from childhood trauma, Oedipus complex) is resistant to therapy: enchanted by the woman of his dreams, Eugene does not want her to be explained away. In a dream world overflowing with Freudian symbols, psychoa- nalysis can explain things, but offers no assistance. The director’s prelude is of similarly biting irony: his film has nothing to do with experiments with form, he claims, the animations were necessary due to the tight production budget. A psychological comedy with Oedipal complications.
  • Screenplay: Jan Švankmajer
  • Cinematographer: Jan Růžička,Juraj Galvánek
  • Animation: Martin Kublák,Eva Jakoubková,Jaroslav Mrázek
  • Cast: Václav Helšus,Klára Issová,Zuzana Kronerová
  • Producer: Jaromír Kallista
  • Production Company: Athanor Film Production Company - Czech Republic