UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI

Akademija za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje

Kritika Faust, Jan Švankmajer

Seminarska naloga

Dora Pejić Bach

Teorija medijev in novomedijske umetnosti

3. letnik
Smer Ilustracija, OVK
2020/2021
 2

In this critique, I will be addressing and analysing Jan Švankmajer's Faust. When the story of Faust is
mentioned, most people think of Goethe's play which was inspired by the stories of a true man
named Faust who supposedly sold his soul to the devil. Jan Švankmajer, a Czech director and
animator, most famous for his surreal stop motion and clay animations, found inspiration in Goethe's
writings and created a film titled Faust. Goethe wrote the play in 1829 and Švankmajer adapted it
into a movie in 1994.

In this critique I will analyse the movie from an artist's point of view, although Goethe's play is often
analysed from a philosophical view. Švankmajer’s and Goethe’s Fausts are connected by the plot but
not with the timeline or the place. Švankmajer’s Faust is happening in city of Prague, in modern times
while Goethe set the play in 19th century Germany. Going into the film, the viewer can expect to
experience a very unusual film, filled with beautiful imagery, mixing different techniques such as clay
animation, stop-motion, and live action. Švankmajer takes out few characters that he clearly thought
were not needed in his adaption as the dialogue is not so common in the film, but he is
compensating it with visual metaphors and many elements which tell a story on their own way, a
way only Jan Švankmajer could do. The movie begins with Faust, a middle-aged man on a street as
two strangers give him a map of the city in which there is a destination pointed out. This is where our
story will mostly take place. It is a very strange place, a puppet theatre, where supernatural and
sinister events occur. Many scenes are played out on a stage and we could look at it as an
entertainment show for the devil. As Faust first enters the strange building, a terrified man runs out.
This could have been a warning to Faust since the same will be happening to him. His first encounter
with the black magic is in front of a mirror as he puts on a puppet outfit and white paint. This is the
introduction also for us to the satanic world as further events involving the black magic almost
always happen during puppet scenes. While watching puppets and stop motion mix with real life the
viewer cannot help but get the feeling as if they are in a fantasy. The uneasy feeling follows us
throughout the whole film and makes us feel like we are witnessing someone’s fever dream. As Faust
signs the contract with the devil using his blood, he is shown fully as a puppet. With this, he is fully
immersed in the black magic. As well as Goethe’s Faust, he wishes for all the pleasures and
knowledge of the world and sells his soul to the devil in return. Although the endings of two authors
are completely different, the core of the story is very similar. Faust performs his supernatural abilities
to people and indulges in pleasure for 24 years of his life. In Švankmajer’s Faust, in the end he is
deceived by the devil himself, shortening his promise to 12 years, while in Goethe’s play, we see that
his soul is redeemed. Although the question of the human morale stays the same; would a person
give up their soul to have all the knowledge and pleasures in the world till the end of their physical
life on earth? Švankmajer ends Faust by ending his life. He runs out of the theatre terrified, just as
 3

the man in the beginning, and gets run over by a car without driver. His leg is severed and taken
away by the same man that we saw carrying a severed leg in the beginning of the film. Švankmajer,
as opposed to Goethe’s ending where Faust’s soul is saved and redeemed, leaves us to question the
long-going practice of the ‘’puppet theatre’’ since the events seem to be going in a loop. Everything
stays the same except the victim is different and the same actions of the puppet theatre go into
eternity. With this, Švankmajer does not make Faust some special academic which cannot be
satisfied with life because of his greatness and wisdom, but a weak man that is just one of many who
fell under the charm of Mephisto. It is a cautionary tale about becoming puppets in evil’s wicked
theatre, sacrificing our souls and lives to non-lasting physical and material pleasures. This is also
shown with his chosen methods of storytelling. Švankmajer mixed live action with animated clay and
puppetry. Devil is animated using clay and puppetry, although Faust is also put in a life-sized puppet,
he still is a person under the mask and devil is not, it is just material without a soul. His mask is empty
and so are material belongings to the humankind. They are all led by the greater system which in the
end gives them nothing but emptiness. Švankmajer almost lures us to feel safe in his world, using
‘’children materials’’ like puppets and clay but adds something off to them which can easily disturb
the viewer. It is something that he does in almost all his films and a new viewer could be easily put
off by his work if they are not warned. He also makes the whole experience a little more intimate
using contemporary 1.37 : 1 aspect ratio. It makes us feel trapped inside his world which makes the
whole experience dream-like. He shows human figures interacting with puppets or clay heads, which
really adds to the surrealism and dream-like aspect of the film. He is a master of making us feel
uncomfortably close to what is happening, inducing the same feeling as if we are in a nightmare in
which we cannot look away. At the same time Švankmajer uses cutting of scenes to make us feel the
disorientation that Faust experiences during rituals, which could also translate to his experience of
life itself. His choice of colour changes from dark and unsaturated to bright colours but they do not
change our experience of the film since his actions make us not trust the bright, seemingly calm
scenery. He is putting a sinister feeling to it using movement of the puppets without the puppet
master controlling them. While scenes all happen in different places, we still feel as we are watching
a show on the stage. Camera movement and compositional choices make us believe that everything,
except scenes on the streets of Prague, is happening on the stage of the puppet theatre. Even scenes
that are shot in nature feel like a theatre scene with using very central and static shots. Everything in
the film is made to feel us like we are in a dream-like state, With it’s surreal images, nostalgia-
inducing clay and stop motion animation as well as puppets. The film, although more than 25 years
old, is very refreshing to watch and still very much relevant. It reminds us of the human morale, our
life on this planet and how material belongings are not what matters. Is it truly worth it to sell our
soul to the material goods? Important question we need to ask ourselves when watching Faust is
 4

how did it relate to the past, when the film was released, how does it relate to the present and how
will it relate to the future? The story of Faust is timeless, and the question of the human moral will
always be relevant. But Švankmajer’s adaption of the myth of Faust can be looked from different
perspectives. When it was first released, people of Czech Republic still had anxieties about recent
political events with Soviet Union and Švankmajer translates this anxiety into the puppetry and
questioning of the morale while showing how no one is special, not even mythical Faust. He
questions the material goods, and these thoughts translate very well to our current state in the
world. While consumerism and bigger and bigger value of the material is slowly poisoning us and our
planet, the question is if we are truly ready to sacrifice so much for the mere pleasure of material
and non-lasting items.

Švankmajer’s work takes us on a journey that I cannot pinpoint the feeling of exactly. The wonderful
world of dream-like, nightmarish state that we see on a screen while it sends a strong message about
our own existence is a gift to experience in our time. Faust not only sends a strong message and
makes us question our morale but provides us with strong imagery, awakening memories from our
childhood using techniques of stop motion animation. It is rare to find an artist that touches people’s
souls so deeply and disturbs them at the same time. Švankmajer’s Faust is a great cinematic piece
and I believe it will stay relevant for many more years.