Review CXXXIII - Lunacy

Review 133
Sílení (2005)

Somehow I always stumble back on Jan Svankmajer. In fact, I’d say he’s the director I have visited most consistently over the years, well, in terms of blogging, anyway. There’s something eye-catching about raw meat making love or creepy dolls running around in endless circles. So of course when I finally got the opportunity to watch Sílení, or Lunacy in English, starring Pavel Liska, Anna Geislerová, Jan Tríska, and Martin Huba, I was there. Normally I force my boyfriend to watch these films with me, but I sat through this one solo – I think maybe he’s getting tired of having to watch such messed-up stop motion.

Lunacy starts off a bit differently than Svankmajer’s other films as our beloved director steps in front of the camera and describes the film we are about to see. He describes the film as a horror movie, describing how the current world as it stands places lunatics in mental wards that encompass the worst of both libertinism and religious dogma. However, while he claims the film to be about mental wards, the film should be placed as an explanation for society today. Also, major spoilers ahead, so be warned!

Jean first experiences the horrors of nihilism when he witnesses the Marquis’ orgy the first night he is there. The whole scene is the most extreme it could be – the Marquis hammers nails into a life-sized crucifix, three women and three men eat – seriously – feces-looking chocolate cake until they commence an orgy, and a woman is raped against her will. I was waiting for a blood ritual, but I think the Marquis’ Baphomet mask was enough. In an argument with Jean, the Marquis reveals that God would never create man in order to let him live such a life unless to make us suffer, as well as claiming God has done worse than he has. This alone is definitely an argument many atheists and agnostics place in front of creationists whenever religion comes on the table. Even if not consciously debating, those who do not hold a moral standing in line with God can’t really argue that what the Marquis did was wrong, and hence, orgies or even one-night stands exist and are prevalent.

Now, apart from this topic, we learn that the Marquis attempts to recreate his mother’s demise every so often when he pretends to die only to come back alive. When he does it in front of Jean, he chokes on a banana, which, given the circumstance, is quite a particular food to take, if you know what I mean. Anyway, this leads to the Marquis explaining his “purgative method” of helping the possibly mentally ill; he and fellow psychiatrist Dr. Murlloppe believe that letting the mentally ill do as they wish will help them in their recovery. This somehow seems flawed when you think of depressed patients who may wish to kill themselves, although the film does say the patients there are not ill yet. But if you think of other circumstances, such as letting your child have reign on what they want to eat or what they can do, you realise this is a current-day situation.

On the other hand, we have, toward the end of the film when the original directors of the psychiatric ward, a Middle-Ages type of view on the disease. The head director believes in extreme forms of punishment to ward off the mentally ill, claiming he has thirteen forms of punishment in store for those who disobey the rules, including the removal of the tongue and eyes. This was definitely Marquis de Sade all over again, but now with the idea of God behind it. We find out that the director also attempted to follow his punishment method by removing his penis, but in the end, buys a replacement in order to fornicate with Charlotte. So really, the mentally ill are considered mentally ill, even if they aren’t, but they never learn to truly escape their problems. After starting to complete a psychology degree and stopping, this definitely reflects practice today. At least in Western medicine, people believe medication can be the one all, end all for a psychological disorder when we actually don't know the effects of antidepressants over long periods of time, and the reason you take medication is only to stabilise a problem so therapy can be effective and thus, one day get off the medication.

I suppose before I close this off, I should mention the little meat segments. While somewhat disturbing to a new viewer, a knowing fan will be reminded of Svankmajer's shorts. The segments themselves often reflect what the previous scene was about in the film, while really showing us as "nothing but meat".

I think Lunacy is a great surrealistic piece of work as it tries to do something weird, but brings the viewer along. With Svankmajer's introduction, you know what you will be seeing in the film, so everything is there. But even without the introduction, I'd say you could get the message Svankmajer was trying to convey. And that is surrealism I like - some things are messed up, but I get the message. Unlike Black Moon...

Crazy as usual, Lunacy stands up to its name, all while giving an interesting message in an interesting way. Thank you, Svankmajer!