''Surviving Life'' () is a 2010 Czech comedy film by

Jan Švankmajer Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934) is a Czech retired film director, animator, writer, playwright and artist. He draws and makes free graphics, collage, ceramics, tactile objects and asse ...

, starring Václav Helšus,

Klára Issová Klára Issová (born 26 April 1979), sometimes known as Klára Issa, is a Czech-Syrian film, stage and television actress. In 1997, she won the Czech Lion Award for Best Supporting Actress in ''Nejasná zpráva o konci světa''. She is the cou ...

and Zuzana Kronerová. The film uses a mix of

cutout animation Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's ...

from photographs and live-action segments, and tells the story of a married man who lives a double life in his dreams, where he meets another woman. It premiered out of competition at the

67th Venice International Film Festival The 67th annual Venice International Film Festival, was held from 1 to 11 September 2010, at Venice Lido in Italy. American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was the jury president for the main competition. The Golden Lion was awarded to ''Somewhere ...

Cast

* Václav Helšus as Evžen and Milan *

as Evženie * Zuzana Kronerová as Milada * Emília Došeková as

super-ego In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego, and superego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, outlined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. The three agents are theoretical constructs that Freud employed t ...

* Daniela Bakerová as Dr. Holubová * Marcel Němec as colleague * Jan Počepický as antiquarian *

Jana Oľhová Jana Oľhová (born 31 December 1959) is a Slovakia, Slovak actress. At the 2008 Sun in a Net Awards she won the category of Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film ''Music (2008 film), Music''. Oľhová won another accolade at the ...

as prostitute * Pavel Nový as janitor * Karel Brožek as boss * Miroslav Vrba as Fikejz

Production

The film was co-produced by Athanor and the Slovak company C-GA Film, with participation of

Czech Television Czech Television ( ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953. H ...

and UPP. It received eight million korun from the Czech State Fund for Support and Development of Cinematography and around six million korun from Eurimages. Additional support was granted by the

MEDIA Programme The MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe or simply Creative Europe MEDIA (formerly The MEDIA Programme of the European Union) is designed to support the European film and audiovisual industries. Administration MEDIA is an abbreviation from Fre ...

. The production involved a total budget of 35 million korun. Animation work was done by an international team at Švankmajer's studio in Knovíz, just outside Prague. The film uses

Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov ( – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was instrumental i ...

's Concert Waltz No.1 in D,op 47 as opening and ending theme.

Release

''Surviving Life'' premiered on 7 September 2010 out of competition at the

. It was subsequently shown at several festivals including the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

. Bontonfilm released it in the Czech Republic on 4 November 2010.

Reception

Deborah Young of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called Švankmajer a "grand master not just of innovative animation techniques but of life itself", and wrote that the director "is at the height of his filmmaking powers as director, artistic director and storyteller here." Young also noted, however, that the film's complex narrative and unconventional imagery "will not be everyone's cup of tea." '' Variety'' editor Leslie Felperin complimented the chemistry between Helšus and Issová, and noted how the film was more similar to Czech mainstream comedies than what normally would be expected from the director: "For all the grotesquerie on display (and there's hardly anything here as disturbing as Svankmajer's imagery in ''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

'' from 1988), pic feels much lighter in tone than the helmer's last few films, such as '' Lunacy'', '' Greedy Guts'' (aka ''Little Otik''), or '' Conspirators of Pleasure''." Švankmajer won the Czech Lion for Best Art Direction for the film. It was also nominated for Best Director and Best Sound.

References

External links

*
Surviving Life
' at Bontonfilm's website * {{Jan Svankmajer 2010 films 2010 comedy films 2010 comedy horror films 2010s Czech-language films Films directed by Jan Švankmajer Films with live action and animation Czech comedy horror films Films about psychoanalysis Czech Lion Awards winners (films) Sun in a Net Awards winners (films) Anifilm award winners Cultural depictions of Carl Jung Cultural depictions of Sigmund Freud Czech animated comedy films Czech adult animated films