The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek forgoes the textbook stuff for a fun, probing look at cinema and the human emotional response to it.
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Critic Reviews for The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
All Critics (24) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (3)
It is a fun romp through the annals of cinema by pop Slovenian philosopher and prolific writer Slavoj Zizek, who finds deep psychological meaning in a slew of movies.
The teachers we remember most fondly are often the ones who entertained as they enlightened, through hyperbole seasoned with grains of salt. Mr. Zizek belongs in that company.
[Zizek] steers clear of his usual dense Hegel-centric language and goes straight for the fun bits.
It sounds completely mad, but it hangs together because of the brilliant, hilarious decision to insert the garrulous philosopher into key scenes of the films he discusses.
What helps the film rise above the level of a photographed college lecture is the director's inventive and playful presentation.
A delightful two-and-a-half-hour repast for mindful film junkies.
Audience Reviews for The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
Zizek's personal psychoanalytic dissection of Cinema is always fascinating and rewarding, even if clearly a one man's vision. But many times he also rambles among different ideas without being really able to organize his thoughts in a coherent, logical sequence.
Super Reviewer
Slavoj Zizek brings his study of philosophy and psychoanalysis to bear on some of the great masterworks of film, examining them for hidden and not-so-hidden symbolism. This is strictly for those who like to do more than mindlessly watch movies. This is an exercise in dissection and, sometimes, in self-projection. Zizek reminds us of the importance of context and of viewing productions from a social perspective. It's arguable that the information presented here may not be completely accurate. Film, like any other visual media, is subject to interpretation and debate. Still, this is compelling stuff. Very educational.
Super Reviewer
Lacaan and cinema. Only if you are totally willing to hear what Zizek has to say. If you are not one to be told what to think, and most importantly, if you are not then able to examine and filter that information according to your standards, there's nothing here for you. Zizek centers mostly on Hitchcock, Chaplin and Lynch, and about these subjects he is quite illuminating, but it's hardly a Universal vision of cinema! However, it's a starting point and a motive to search deeper into the extensive literature available regarding psychoanalytic perspectives on films and auteurs.
Super Reviewer
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