and
The Appropriate Tune: 'Faust 72' by Dynastie Crisis
One of the more common tropes in literature is the ‘deal with the devil’, wherein a character gives up something precious to them to a malevolent being in exchange for their heart’s desire. American blues legend Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his talent at the guitar, and there have been numerous other tales of artists and musicians doing the same over the years. Hell you could even classify the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus as a ‘deal with the devil’ story, although Hades and Satan weren’t actually equivalent. However the archetypal example of this well-worn trope is the German legend of Faust, who made a deal with a demon in order to gain all of the world’s knowledge, which didn’t turn out so well for him. So famous is this story that the term ‘faustian’ has entered the popular vernacular, or at least the nerd vernacular.
The tale of Faust has been adapted many times over the years; A famous play by Goethe, and of course several films. There was one by the great F.W. Murnau in 1926, and another by Peter Gorski in 1960, but the one we’re going to be looking at is 1994’s Faust, by Czech director Jan Svankmajer. Svankmajer, if you’ll recall, is the mind behind that stop-motion adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, which is by far the creepiest version of the story I’ve ever seen. I was interested in seeing how he would tackle things that are meant to be scary, like demons, so here we are.
Released in 1994, Faust was written and directed by Jan Svankmajer and produced by Jaromir Kallista through Athanor, BBC, CNC and Pandora Filmproduction, based on the play by Goethe. Petr Cepek stars as our protagonist, a man thoroughly unenthused about his life and the world at large. On a whim he decides to visit the location on a flier handed out by two men, which turns out to be a theater putting on a production of ‘Faust’, and it turns out our protagonist is playing the lead role. Not being a theater person our protagonist tries to leave, but it seems that the show must go on, whether he wants it to or not. And furthermore, what is the difference between the play and reality anyway?
As a story, Goethe’s Faust is pretty straight-forward. Faust, feeling the limitations of human knowledge and ability, rejects god and sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power, only to realize that this attachment to the world is what keeps him from true knowledge, i.e. knowledge of god. Svankmajer’s Faust follows a similar path. Our protagonist is unsatisfied with his life, and so assumes the role of Faust in order to gain a sense of power and purpose, not realizing that once committed that you can’t just go back on it. Our protagonist works with puppets and eventually becomes a puppet himself, struggling against the inevitability of his fate. A counterpoint to Goethe, who emphasized unquestioning devotion to god, a willing ‘puppet’ if you will, or a compliment, as our protagonist cavorts with the devil and pays the price? The film is presented in an intensely surreal manner, with the nature of time and space heavily distorted, so I suppose it could be both and neither at once.
Of course the main reason I picked this version was for the visuals, and Svankmajer doesn’t disappoint. The man has an eye for decay, every other scene this film finds itself in new forms of squalor, from deteriorating apartments to stuffy backstage areas and rotting church basements. The stop motion animation is incredibly dynamic, a little herky-jerky but just seeing the myriad ways that Svankmajer twists and morphs Mephistopheles is a fascinating bit of filmmaking. Then of course there are the puppets, or perhaps marionettes is the better word, life-size marionettes that look like they were pulled out of Toulon’s basement. The marionettes are really what made this movie, not only because they perform the play the film is centered around and perform most of the dialogue but they are also creepy as hell. Seeing them interact with real people, the unnatural way they engage with the real world, helps to develop the absurdism of the whole thing. If you’ve got even a slight phobia of dolls however you might want to steer clear.
Potential issues with Faust are much the same as with any surreal or absurdist film, those who prefer their stories straight-forward will likely find this incomprehensible and thus insufferable. There’s also some depictions of gore and sexuality that some viewers might find uncomfortable, in spite of them being performed by marionettes. Not a lot, but certainly enough to enhance the sense of the bizarre.
Faust gets the recommendation. Much like his adaptation of Lewis Carroll, Svankmajer manages to twist and turn it in such a way that it feels almost wholly unique and thoroughly unsettling. I was also, much like with his previous film, captivated the whole way through. He certainly doesn’t make family films, but if you’re looking for something particularly out there this Halloween then Faust is the film for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment