Faust (Jan Švankmajer)
Czech Republic
•
1h 32m
Directed by Jan Svankmajer • Drama • With Petr Cepek, Jan Kraus, Vladimír Kudla • 1994 • 97 minutes
Jan Svankmajer’s Faust is a rendering of the infamous Dr. Faustus fable of temptation and damnation. Borrowing freely from both Marlowe and Goethe and ancient folktales and timeless myths, the story follows a lonely Czech businessman who sells his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of self-indulgence. A visually fantastic combination of live-action, claymation, puppet theatre, stop-motion animation, and other special effects, Svankmajer creates an unsettling universe presided over by diabolic life-size marionettes and haunted by sinister human messengers from hell.
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