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Slavoj Zizek

Renowned pop philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek takes a closer look at the sexual history of films spanning the spectrum from Charlie Chaplain to David Lynch in filmmaker Sophie Fiennes' indul... read more read more...gent look at some of the silver screen's most sublime features. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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84% liked it

2,308 ratings

Critics

86% liked it

21 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Sophie Fiennes

Release Date: June 17, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (210)

  • flixsterman
    January 8, 2010
    flixsterman
    Slavoj Zizek brings his study of philosophy and psychoanalysis to bear on some of the great masterworks of film, examining them for hidden and not-so-hidden symbolism. This is strictly for those who like to do more than mindlessly watch movies. This is an exercise in dissection... read more and, sometimes, in self-projection. Zizek reminds us of the importance of context and of viewing productions from a social perspective.

    It's arguable that the information presented here may not be completely accurate. Film, like any other visual media, is subject to interpretation and debate. Still, this is compelling stuff. Very educational.
  • ebs90
    July 24, 2009
    ebs90
    Lacaan and cinema. Only if you are totally willing to hear what Zizek has to say. If you are not one to be told what to think, and most importantly, if you are not then able to examine and filter that information according to your standards, there's nothing here for you.

    Zizek c... read moreenters mostly on Hitchcock, Chaplin and Lynch, and about these subjects he is quite illuminating, but it's hardly a Universal vision of cinema! However, it's a starting point and a motive to search deeper into the extensive literature available regarding psychoanalytic perspectives on films and auteurs.
  • kenstachnik
    November 19, 2008
    kenstachnik
    Super Geeky fun
  • gator681
    January 18, 2009
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" is an interesting documentary narrated and hosted by philosopher Slavoj Zizek wherein he examines cinema mostly from a psychoanalytical viewpoint.(Despite where I went to college, a lot of this went over my head.) Of the movies... read more explored, he is especially consumed with those directed by Tarkovsky, Hitchcock(nearly all from the blonde period between Dial M for Murder and Marnie), Lynch(Dune is mentioned which is fine but it is a shame Eraserhead is not because I would have liked an explanation for that one), and Chaplin. And he makes an explicit connection between Hitchcock and Lynch. But he is no film snob as he also brings up Revenge of the Sith and Alien Resurrection. [/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]Visually, "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" is not just Zizek talking and dispensing his theories. While talking, he is also juxtaposed with the reimagined sets of old films, even going so far as to go boating on Bodega Bay where The Birds was set and flushing the toilet in the hotel where The Conversation was set. This tactic leads to an exploration of one his favorite themes, the difference between reality and fantasy. What amazes him is how we get caught up in a story we know is not really happening. I will use examples he provides but not in the same way he uses them. The first is with Alien. Now, no matter how many times I am told, I cannot think of the scene where the alien hatches as not being real and that summarizes a lot of the problems I have with horror, separating what I should know is fake from real violence. The second is the scene in The Matrix where Morpheus(Laurence Fishburne) is offering Neo(Keanu Reeves) the two pills. Now after that scene, the movie became a lot less fun for me as the reality of Neo's existence was shown, surrendering the mystery, and it was not as fascinating as I thought it was going to be.[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]While Zizek does share a lot of good insights, he misses the boat completely when it comes to pornography. The problem with porn is not the writing, or lack of any, because nobody really cares what the plot is. It is the direction. What is needed is better filmmaking. Anyway, some theatrical movies have started to go beyond Hollywood in their depictions of explicit sex which is a good thing. [/font]
  • fb20312798
    September 28, 2008
    fb20312798
    Being a philosopher, psychoanalysist, and Freudian lap dog its safe to say Slavoj Zizek has some interesting things to say about movies. I know nothing about this man outside of what I saw here, but he seems to be slightly qualified so let's all listen. He looks at several films,... read more most notably the works of Hitchcock and David Lynch (at one point he even looks at Revenge of the Sith and has something interesting to say about it. Who Knew!?) His claims about movies range from fascinating, to confusing, to totally ludicrous. But I was engaged the whole time.
    Here's a fun little teaser. In Hitchcock's The Birds, the birds are the incestuous anger of the mother of that guy Tippi Hendren's character likes. WOW!
  • SunilJawahir
    January 6, 2010
    SunilJawahir
    A bit overanalyzed but kinda fun.
  • KLFilmmaker
    December 6, 2007
    KLFilmmaker
    Worth a watch if you love classic cinema.
  • HeroPK
    December 28, 2009
    HeroPK
    The title throws you off. This film covers milestone films (star wars, hitckcock, lynch films etc.) and over analyzes them. The accent of the host is too hard to follow to make this film enjoyable. It is also more of of psycology lesson than a film class. Watching the clips t... read morehemselve is the part that saves this movie.
  • jes25924
    August 11, 2008
    jes25924
    Bear in mind, any film (let alone documentary) which asserts any kind of truth, will generate an adverse and proportional amount of cynicism, from those to whom any suggestion of and or search for truths is already meaningless, those of you who are already Masters of psychology, ... read morefilm, and captains of the soul, will no doubt find this movie redundant, after all, you already know everything there is to know. Congrats.

    For those of us in the minority like myself, I found "The Perverts Guide To Cinmea"....mostly brilliant, and worth watching for those interested in movies, psychology, and modern philosophy.

    A little like Scott Mclouds' "Understanding Comics", director Sophie Fiennes, inter-grates Slovene philosopher, psychologist, and social critic Slavoj Zizek right into many of the films and specif scenes he discusses. The cover is an image from "The Birds"(Zizek takes a boat out to re-create the shot).

    Lacanian Psycho-analysis, does not necessarily scream, an evening of great fun...but it is! If you like movies that is.... Having some knowledge of Lacanian psycho-analysis helps (Symbolic, Real, and Imaginary) are terms which get thrown around a little loosely at first, but the scenes which Zizek selects and analyze make remarkably clear what was always for me, a very abstract subject. In fact, it's probably better to have a familiarity with the films he's discussing than with the terminology he uses, which becomes clearer as the film goes on.

    Why I love, this film isn't because it picks great films to analyze or reveals great truths about Lacan, but shows in a very practical and clever manner, where film and psychology (and by default philosophy) meet.

    Why is "The Sound Of Music" kinda fascistic, why is "Short Cuts" about more than just class and alienation, why do the birds attack in "The Birds", what is there to learn about the mind from "Alien Resurrection", what does the planet of "Solaris" want, what does "Psycho" and "The Marx Brothers" have to do with each other, and what the hell is David Lynch getting across in movie after movie...well Zizek has some ideas.

    The role of the voice in both "The Excorcist" and "Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith", is maybe the movies strongest and most lucid moment, when he gets into feminine sexual subjectivity I begin to wonder...at one point Zizek admits offhand his personal feeling that flowers are a kind of decorative vagina dentatta, that they are disgusting and should be hidden from children (jokingly, it seems but...).

    Anyway, it's a fascinating documentary, which anyone who has ever seen a movie, and thought it meant something more than was literally stated, should make an attempt to see.

    And anyone interested in Slavoj Zizek, this is a must as well, much less dry than "Reality Of The Virtual", and more direct than "Zizek!", two other pseudo-docs, about "the Elvis of cultural criticism", as he is being dubbed.

    "The Perverts Guide To Cinema" is NOT about the role of sex in cinema. Zizek claims cinema is the ultimate pervert art, because it teaches "how to desire, and not what to desire", and that it is the only contemporary art form that can allow for these desires to be articulated. This is not a film about finding the reality in cinema, it's about finding the cinema in reality, and how important and exciting that can be. Hard to find, and a bit long, but well worth
  • ahegele
    October 2, 2007
    ahegele
    some interesting philosophical insights of classic pictures. A bit long and hard to understand at times but non the less compelling.

View All The Pervert's Guide to Cinema Reviews

Critic Reviews

V.A. Musetto
January 16, 2009
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

It is a fun romp through the annals of cinema by pop Slovenian philosopher and prolific writer Slavoj Zizek, who finds deep psychological meaning in a slew of movies. Full Review

Stephen Holden
January 16, 2009
Stephen Holden, New York Times

The teachers we remember most fondly are often the ones who entertained as they enlightened, through hyperbole seasoned with grains of salt. Mr. Zizek belongs in that company.

Vadim Rizov
January 14, 2009
Vadim Rizov, Village Voice

[Zizek] steers clear of his usual dense Hegel-centric language and goes straight for the fun bits. Full Review

Miranda Siegel
January 12, 2009
Miranda Siegel, New York Magazine

It sounds completely mad, but it hangs together because of the brilliant, hilarious decision to insert the garrulous philosopher into key scenes of the films he discusses. Full Review

Frank Scheck
May 4, 2007
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

What helps the film rise above the level of a photographed college lecture is the director's inventive and playful presentation.

Ty Burr
April 26, 2007
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

A delightful two-and-a-half-hour repast for mindful film junkies. Full Review

Colin Covert
April 19, 2007
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Here's a film guaranteed to make you smarter than all your friends for 48 hours, or at least feel like you are.

September 23, 2006
Globe and Mail

How you perceive classics from directors as wide-ranging as Lynch, Coppola and Tarkovsky might be richened.

Eddie Cockrell
September 18, 2006
Eddie Cockrell, Variety

A virtuoso marriage of image and thought. Full Review

Rob Nelson
August 24, 2009
Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Maybe the art house isn't a place for perverts anymore. Indeed, the privacy of one's own laptop seems a somewhat safer setting for Zizek's kinky act of criticism. Full Review

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