The Pervert's Guide to Ideology

2013 "We are responsible for our dreams"
7.6| 2h11m| R| en
Details

A journey into the labyrinthine heart of ideology, which shapes and justifies both collective and personal beliefs and practices: with an infectious zeal and voracious appetite for popular culture, Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek analyzes several of the most important films in the history of cinema to explain how cinematic narrative helps to reinforce prevailing ethics and political ideas.

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Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland

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Reviews

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
temrok9 I wasn't expecting much, I must say;I watched this movie because it was a gift of a magazine I bought and thought of giving it a chance.But at the first frame, I jumped up with enthusiasm;John Carpenter's They live is acknowledged as a masterpiece. Zizek is a very clever man and his remarks are brilliant.Furthermore, as the film unfolds, it becomes obvious that through the different topics there's a theory that is elaborated here, and it is so perfectly illustrated that it is better watched than read.I must say that I have read Zizek in the past, and I used to read a lot of Lacan, so I am acquainted with the ideas expressed, but I found them here expressed with such clarity, that impressed me and even influenced me, all the more since they fit with my way of thinking and the way I stand against Ideology.I even understood better why I am a devoted fan of John Carpenter and why I dislike Titanic and Nolan's Batman.Overall, a superb movie that makes you really think and consider things(Zizek is a brilliant thinker, lending his pair of glasses to look through), that does not cease to bring joy.An even resurrecting experience also, for which I am grateful.
Vihren Mitev This guide is also highly rated in comparison with the film guide. Although abstracted in more to the theory and the world of ideas, than to the movies again it introduces us to the field of film art by already well known manner.I dare say that the selection of movies here is better. Some movies and directors that were missed in the previous guide were caught up and the final result is quite satisfactory. The opposition, which this time Zizek introduces to us is between free choice and hidden orders, which implicitly enshrined in its variants. Making a kind of circular proof, starting from one place and returning again to the starting position, the modern philosopher has moved us a step forward in iconic films concerning the relationship of the nondescript subject and revealing over him multiple authorities. In this mental shift The Castle of Kafka was moved to Brazil, The Taxi Driver dispensed justice, Titanic was named the edge of the abyss, which does not divide the love of the two lovers, but rather immortalises it, attempts to live another life were made, possibly away from a career in the army and so on, and so forth.Slovenian humor on an abstract level. Mitigating the impact of Freud to raise that of Marx and Lacan. Reveals us the opportunity for a new way to watch every film, being critical of the surrounding habitat and to remain fully authentic. Ladies and gentle man - Zizek!http://vihrenmitevmovies.blogspot.com/
Neddy Merrill For those of you who saw: "The Perverts Guide to Cinema", the first answer you'll want is no, Slavoj Zizek's near-impenetrable accent and lisp has not improved. Occasionally, the film will throw sub- titles on the screen to assist in understanding Zizek's musings on the devotion humans have to various "isms" and how they related to very early (Hitler's "Triumph of the Will") and very recent (Nolan's equally unrealistic "The Dark Knight). Presumably one can turn on the closed captioning feature on their laptop and it would be a great help. Once you get past this communication hurdle you'll hear Zizek cover a fair amount of obvious ground - "The Triumph of the Will", "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Full Metal Jacket" have clear and unambiguous agendas which their audiences came to see. More Trojan Horse offerings make for more interesting discussions. Kudos to Zizek for leading with and praising the wildly underrated "They Live" John Carpenter's condemnation of modern consumer society. In other cases, say "Titanic" his argument that it contains a coherent agenda seems stretched and in others - particularly Taxi Driver (which is a study of the decent into madness in an insane environment) - his contention of it being an ideological argument seems to miss the mark. In short, not as interesting as his review of the psychoanalytic elements of, particularly Hitchock, movies from the original "Perverts Guide" but of interest to the cinephile.
Martin Bradley I haven't seen "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema"; now I wonder if I want to. Sophie Fiennes is credited as the director of "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology" but this is Slavoj Zizek's movie; he is never off the screen either in person or just his very annoying voice in broken English, (worse even than Mark Cousins' as he narrates his "The Story of Film"), as he explores the concept of 'ideology' through film, newsreel or music as used in film and since the examples he uses are far from what we might expect in such a highly intellectualized essay as this we are left in something of a void. I mean, is this man, Slavoj Zizek, for real or is Feinnes pulling the wool over our eyes by putting him at the centre of her film?Of course, things would be a lot different if our guide were someone else; someone speaking fluent English or if Zizek were allowed to speak in his own language but then his torrent of words could never be adequately represented by subtitles. So we must take this film purely on face value. An 'ideological' version of this film wouldn't perhaps be what's up on the screen but perhaps that's the point. Film-buffs will, of course, love the clips even if Zizek's voice-over doesn't always make it easy for us to understand what is being said, (or what point he may actually be making), but there is a certain tongue-in-cheek fun to be had from seeing Zizek place himself 'into' the films or at least into the settings of the films, ("Taxi Driver" one minute, "Triumph of the Will" the next and sitting on the toilet from "Full Metal Jacket" at one point).I'm sure intellectuals will positively wet themselves in paroxysms of ecstasy at having depth and meaning bestowed on such commercial 'classics' as "Jaws" and "The Sound of Music" and may even have them racing back to view them in a totally different light. Others may run screaming from the cinema and may never want to watch "West Side Story" again. For now I'm sitting on the fence with a foot in both camps, torn by the validity of Zizek's arguments (or the lack of), and the catch- penny, if undeniably entertaining, style in which they are presented.