Faust, the film by Czech animator Jan Svankmejer that was just released on video, has all of the above, plus a centuries-old tale of satanic seduction. Because of some pretty disturbing scenes involving Eastern European cuisine, it also works as a diet aid. The live action takes place in a Kafkaesque Prague, and the labyrinthine interiors into which the Faust character is lured are an ever-shifting combination of The Trial's mysterious chambers and Alice's rabbit hole. The editing of the film is determined by dream logic as well. The action moves from scenes in which an ordinary man finds himself unexpectedly thrust onstage to recite from Goethe's Faust to those in which ballerinas have their picnic disturbed by a plowing tractor.
Rooms open onto theatrical stages that open onto fields and forests.
Reality is continually shifted and subverted, as human actors are connected to marionette strings and puppets are glimpsed on the toilet. Well, when dealing with the subconscious, you might as well make it collective. In this case, however, he chooses to accentuate the artifice of his craft. When puppets appear they are obviously puppets, and the puppeteers' hands are featured characters. From beginning to end, Faust has the mesmerizing and extremely convincing quality of a dream.