“For surrealism, only dreams possess reality. These films depict inner reality—not what life brings us from the outside, but what “comes to mind” about it. Not the idea of the world, but the world of ideas in its illogical, purely organic impermanence.” (Balázs, Béla. Izbrani proizvedeniya, p. 284)

Jan Švankmajer is a member of the surrealist group in Czechoslovakia. Although he began his career at the same time as the other representatives of the New Czechoslovak Wave, he seems to remain an independent figure in cinema, as his films are more closely identified with the collective pursuits of the surrealist group than with the cinematic innovations of his fellow directors. Having studied puppet theater, Švankmajer brought inanimate objects to life on screen, while at the same time using the technique of pixelation to transform people into objects. Using the collage technique, a characteristic surrealist practice, the independent and parallel existence of its constituent parts can be observed beneath the whole. According to Švankmajer: “Surrealism is everything but art: ‘world views, philosophy, ideology. psychology, magic’. (Pikkov, Ulo. Surrealist Sources of Eastern European Animation Film. In: Baltic screen media review 2013 / volume 1 / article, р. 32.)

In 1980, Švankmajer filmed an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” telling the story entirely through objects. According to film researcher Ulo Pikov, the essence of animation techniques is distinguished by surrealistic elements such as irrationality, lack of gravity, mystery, fantasy, and dreamlike imagery.  A distinctive feature of Švankmajer’s work is the combination of visual and artistic practices, through which he not only forms his cinematic style but also reveals new possibilities for cinematic expression. The feature film Alice (1988) includes stop motion animation with objects combined with live action footage – an authorial interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The rhythm of the film is slow, and although aesthetically it does not evoke emotions typical of horror films, such emotions are definitely felt. In Švankmajer’s films, the line between horror and humor is barely discernible, perhaps even non-existent, because their aesthetic intention is to resemble dreams rather than fairy tales. Alice (played by actress Kristina Kuhotova) eats a cake and instantly turns into a child’s doll, which is where her adventure begins. A terrifying children’s doll, Chucky, chills viewers in the American film Child’s Play (dir. Tom Holland, 1988) from the same year. Typical of American cinema, Chucky quickly became an iconic image of horror, spawning not only more films in the franchise but also a television series, comic books, collectible figurines, etc. A similar dramatic denouement does not befall Švankmajer’s Alice, but the film is a model of cinematic mastery and an example of diligence to work with time-consuming visual-artistic practices. The challenge that such cinematographic techniques pose to viewers is defined by contemporary neurocognitive science as embodied simulation: ” Embodied simulation is a basic functional mechanism of the brain by means of which part of the neural resources that are normally employed to interact with the world around us, shaping our relationships and relations, are reused for perception and imagination. Our understanding of the meaning of much of the behavior and the experiences of other beings relies on this reuse of the neuronal circuits on which our personal agentive, emotional, and sensory experiences are based. We reuse our mental states and processes, represented in corporeal form, to attribute them functionally to others. Embodied simulation provides an integrated and neurobiologically credible framework for this type of intersubjective phenomena. ” (Gallese, Vittorio; Guerra, Michele. The Empathic Screen. Cinema and Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2020, р. 1-2.) Cinema allows us to experience reality not only of human characters, but also of objects and animals. Authors Vittorio Galesi and Michel Gera give as an example Robert Bresson’s 1966 film Au hasard Balthazar, in which viewers symbolically walk the life path of the donkey Balthazar. From this perspective, Švankmajer’s films challenge the viewers’ imagination, as they apply their personal experience to the experiences of inanimate objects—the living world of the inanimate.

The short film Food (1992) was created using pixelation, which transforms a person into an object. In Švankmajer’s mode, every object is a puppet, and play is the only possibility for existence. The idea of puppets’ lives as boundless and free from dichotomies is interesting, while that of humans (represented by live action footage) is often filled with deficiencies and conflicts. By fragmenting human movement, pixelation is a grotesque, humorous challenge to perception, while emphasizing the idea of a work of art that does not attempt to reproduce reality, but to present its own to viewers.

In one of his latest feature films, Surviving One’s Life (Theory and Practice) (2010), the author combines several practices – pixelation, live action footage, and cut-out technique. The cutouts are from photographic images—optical reproductions of real objects, rearranging physical reality into artistic reality. Close-ups occupy a central aesthetic place in the author’s films, especially those of lips, and the strong conceptual influence of psychoanalysis is evident. It is at the heart of the narrative in Living Your Life (Theory and Practice), as a portrait of Sigmund Freud comes to life alongside the other characters. The collage aesthetic is typical of films with a surrealist mode and can be achieved by combining a variety of cinematic techniques.

At the beginning of the film, Švankmajer presents his motive for using the cutout technique “like the one used in old children’s television programs,” which is rooted in a lack of financial resources. Švankmajer’s characteristic humor builds bridges between reality, dreams, and extraordinary thoughts. All these dimensions, or rather theatrical scenes, intertwine in the life of the main character, Evgeni, who plays the leading role in each production. Such cinematic expression is close to the immediate neurocognitive experience in the human brain, confirming that every linearly structured narrative is a creative function of consciousness and, accordingly, of art. Cinema begins where all other arts end; it is: “… as life expressing life, as experience expressing experience.”  (Sobchack, Vivian. The Address of the Eye. A Phenomenology of Film Experience. Princeton University Press, 1991, р. 5.) Storytelling is an imaginative thought mechanism through which a person can express their experiences figuratively as a collection of reactions, memories, and relationships with other people. In other words, composing a story paves the way for reflection. The story is a tool for communication, not communication itself. Its presence in film works is not mandatory. Cinema relies on narrative potential, with viewers not only identifying with the characters on screen through empathy but also engaging their own emotional reserves in response to events external to the characters. Švankmajer overturns this cinematic film-viewer dynamic by presenting the world, or to quote the title, “experiencing life” as a creative act – the work of Evgeni, rather than a reaction to events external to him.

A characteristic feature of the avant-garde cinema is the desire of filmmakers to have an emotional impact on viewers, relying solely on the audio-visual vocabulary of cinema. The rejection of narrative is a radical gesture present in the ethos of the modern avant-garde. This approach is not equivalent to a logical absence or a kind of semantic chaos. The film has its own meaning, but it also creates meaning for us.  Popular cinema engages viewers by following a plot, while avant-garde cinema reveals possibilities for decoding it, if it exists at all, and, accordingly, for its multidirectional interpretation. Viewers are never passive, regardless of the type of cinema. The film itself is a psychological experience. (Hockings, Paul. Principles of Visual Anthropology.Walter de Gruyter (2003).pdf 249, р.55)

Bibliography

Balázs, Béla.  Избрани произведения [Izbrani proizvedeniya]. Наука и изкуство [Nauka i izkustvo]. Sofiya, 1988.

Gallese, Vittorio; Guerra, Michele. The Empathic Screen. Cinema and Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Hockings, Paul. Principles of Visual Anthropology.Walter de Gruyter, 2003.

Pikkov, Ulo. Surrealist Sources of Eastern European Animation Film. In: Baltic screen media review 2013 / volume 1.

Sobchack, Vivian. The Address of the Eye. A Phenomenology of Film Experience. Princeton University Press, 1991.