Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

tomgillespie2002 There has been numerous stage and film adaptations of Goethe's tragedy Faust, where the eponymous hero sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for the Devil serving Faust during his time on the Earth, as long as upon death, Faust will serve him in return in Hell. F.W. Murnau's 1926's Faust is probably the most acclaimed film adaptation, whilst Istvan Szabo's 1981 masterpiece Mephisto transformed the setting of the play to WWII-era Germany. I would imagine that there has never been such an imaginative and unpredictable interpretation than animator Jan Svankmajer's 1994 effort. Combining live-action, stop motion animation, and puppetry, the Czech's various talents come together to make a surreal, and brilliant, piece of art.The film begins as Faust (Petr Capek) finds a map on a train that leads him to an abandoned theatre. When there, he accidentally creates a clay baby that develops quickly from a foetus into a fully formed baby. It quickly starts shifting its face into adults, as the Devil starts to attempt communication with Faust. He destroys the baby, and ends up unwillingly on a stage, in costume, accompanied by large wooden puppets who act as the supporting characters. The play and reality start to blend together, as even when our hero pops outside for a cigarette, the puppets follow dressed in human's clothes. The play/story goes on, as Faust plays with his new powers, and is frequently influenced by the Devil.It's quite hard to write a formal review about a film that had its impact on me a couple of hours after the credits have rolled, and some scenes where I genuinely did not know what was happening. It plays out like a sort of medieval Punch and Judy show, with some strangely creepy characters. It's undoubtedly quite childish and playful, but at the same time it is dark and complex, and more than anything else, frequently surreal.In my favourite scene, the Fool character who is reading Faust's textbook discovers that he can the Devil whenever he likes and dismiss him just as quickly. When dismissed, the Devil quickly legs it out the door, dressing himself up in an overcoat and hat and passing the smoking Faust in the street. As he is called back, he is forced to shed the clothes and rush back to the stage to make a explosive entrance. He goes back and forth for about 5 minutes. I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer absurdness of it all.While quite not as stunning as Alice (his Alice In Wonderland adaptation), Faust does constantly surprise, entertain, and bewilder.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

kruno-f This is not a movie that strikes the first time viewer. It asks for some former knowledge. It mainly relies on the epic Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, but since monologue and dialog have been very rare in this one, symbols are probably easier to read if the book has been previously read. For example, the empty egg in the bread which actually contains one's soul according to pagan mythology could be overlooked.This is as far as the script is concerned. The directory, however, is done by one of the greatest and most influential stop-motion-animation masters and puppeteers, greatly appreciated by the well known Quay Brothers (see The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer) as well as the others. This means that very imaginative and expressive combination of animation, string puppets theater and acting is expected.When one thinks about the story of Faust, the question that often pops in one's head is what would be the price on my soul. Faust traded his soul for the absolute understanding which in the end he does not receive. However, the moment of gaining control over his destiny is shown so simply and yet so powerfully – the moment of detaching strings, the question that remains is who was pulling Faust's strings in the moment he decided to sell his soul. That was the decision he made former to his strings detaching. The movie swarms with this sort of fractions that trigger bursts of reflections and that's why this movie won't put you to sleep. On the other hand, if you are sleepy go watch something else, this movie deserves attention.

kodai This film is wonderful. It is a very creative piece and a unique version of Goethe's Faust (not the play). It is made to appeal to those who enjoy art house film's. In America I would say 99 out of 100 people would dislike or even hate it, simply because it's really odd. It's really meant for those who want to see a story unfold in an abnormal light. As to the previous comment about the dubbing, It was not redubbed in english. The seven lines were orginaly recorded in english and the over-dubbed sound is part of the surreal effect that was intended to be there. If you havent seen it, then I'll give an example. Imagine a lump of clay hitting the ground. *thud* Now in Faust it goes *THUD-BUMP-SPLAT* with other little sounds. Very different but the sound helps get the idea accross.

zetes Personally, I like this film. It's an imaginitive adaptation, and it definitely begs to be seen. I think, though, that Jan Svankmajer fans are likely to be disappointed. People unfamiliar with his work are likely to hate it. Now, I'm no expert in his work. I've seen three shorts and his version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, just called Alice in the U.S. The three shorts are all masterpieces in their own ways (my favorite being The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia) and Alice is a near-masterpiece. Faust is not nearly as inventive as those other works. Svankmajer is known as a stop-motion animator, but his Faust contains little animation. The animation that there is is universally stunning. I will bet that any fan of the medium will just love the sequence with the baby, and will probably wish that it were longer. Actually, the medium that is most abundant in Faust is marionettes. Most of the film is live action, as well. The marionettes are often replaced with actors wearing gigantic papier-mache heads. This isn't as interesting as stop-motion animation, but it still works. Some of the puppets can be annoying, especially the jester. I believe that the puppet characters are done in the kind of exaggerated style familiar to puppet shows. 7/10.