Lunacy

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Lunacy

2005

2h 1m

Horror

Fantasy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

33 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

In 19th-century France a young man (Pavel Liska) meets a nobleman (Jan Tríska) who invites him to spend the night in his castle, where the former witnesses a bizarre orgy and the latter's apparent death and burial. The next day, the nobleman explains he cured his fear of premature burial by having himself entombed, and he suggests that the young man, who is plagued by nightmares of a madhouse, have himself committed.

Critics Consensus

A Svankmajer movie is not for everyone, but he displays his usual creative flair for surreal imagery.

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Bill Stamets

Chicago Sun-Times

10/27/2006

2/4

A horse-drawn carriage crossing an expressway overpass promises a more subversive ride than Svankmajer delivers.

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Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

10/26/2006

2.5/4

While Lunacy leaves you with the impression that Svankmajer is more expressive with cutlets than he is with his atypically human-dominated dreamscape, some of the images are doozies.

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Jeff Shannon

Seattle Times

10/13/2006

3/4

This is one of those deliriously unhinged movies that looks, feels and sounds genuinely insane, for all the right artistic reasons.

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Christopher Campbell

Cinematical

09/18/2007

4.5/5

Wickedly funny and astonishingly conceived, the film is a nonstop cavalcade of shocks, surprises and enchantments. I loved every minute of it.

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Ken Eisner

Georgia Straight

04/16/2007

As pure cinema, there's no denying the power of Lunacy, although mostly that power can best be described as, well, sadistic.

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Rex Roberts

Film Journal International

02/22/2007

Svankmajer continues to push at the boundaries of convention, juxtaposing blasphemy and torture while mocking the possibility of transcendence.

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03/22/2020

You can see all the representations of men. A fabulous window peeking into what a convenient state of mind means in most societies.

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12/15/2017

F 8.2 [Jan Svankmajer]

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10/21/2017

Not for the faint of heart.

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07/20/2017

Basically a wannabee-de-sade flick with some animated sirloin steak in it. The political analysis Svankmajer is so proud of is laboured, slow, pedantic and was done much better 50 years ago in the Prisoner and shortly after in Pasolini's Salo. This is the second Svankmajer fillm to have disappointed me.

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03/05/2016

As in all Svankmajer films, the visual aspects far outweigh the dramatic ones, but this time, the drama is draggy and drawn-out.

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08/23/2015

What in the fuck did I just sit through?!!!

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Jan Svankmajer

Director

Pavel Liska

Jean Berlot

Jan Tríska

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Synopsis

In 19th-century France a young man (Pavel Liska) meets a nobleman (Jan Tríska) who invites him to spend the night in his castle, where the former witnesses a bizarre orgy and the latter's apparent death and burial. The next day, the nobleman explains he cured his fear of premature burial by having himself entombed, and he suggests that the young man, who is plagued by nightmares of a madhouse, have himself committed.

Director: Jan Svankmajer
Producer: Jaromír Kallista
Screenwriter: Jan Svankmajer
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
Original Language: Czech
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Aug 9, 2006
Release Date (DVD): Feb 20, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA): $48.0K
Runtime: 2h 1m
Sound Mix: Dolby