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Démence

Original title: Sílení
  • 2005
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 58m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Démence (2005)
Adult AnimationCostume DramaDark ComedyPeriod DramaStop Motion AnimationAnimationComedyDramaHorror

A man takes up residence with a mysterious marquis and is soon persuaded to enter into an asylum for preventative therapy. Things are not what they seem, and the marquis may be even more sin... Read allA man takes up residence with a mysterious marquis and is soon persuaded to enter into an asylum for preventative therapy. Things are not what they seem, and the marquis may be even more sinister than what the young man may've predicted.A man takes up residence with a mysterious marquis and is soon persuaded to enter into an asylum for preventative therapy. Things are not what they seem, and the marquis may be even more sinister than what the young man may've predicted.

  • Director
    • Jan Svankmajer
  • Writers
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Marquis de Sade
    • Jan Svankmajer
  • Stars
    • Jan Tríska
    • Pavel Liska
    • Anna Geislerová
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.1/10
    4.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jan Svankmajer
    • Writers
      • Edgar Allan Poe
      • Marquis de Sade
      • Jan Svankmajer
    • Stars
      • Jan Tríska
      • Pavel Liska
      • Anna Geislerová
    • 27User reviews
    • 56Critic reviews
    • 63Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 8 wins & 7 nominations total

    Photos21

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    Top cast82

    Edit
    Jan Tríska
    Jan Tríska
    • Marquis
    Pavel Liska
    Pavel Liska
    • Jean Berlot
    Anna Geislerová
    Anna Geislerová
    • Charlota
    Martin Huba
    Martin Huba
    • Dr. Coulmiere
    Jaroslav Dusek
    Jaroslav Dusek
    • Dr. Murlloppe
    Pavel Nový
    Pavel Nový
    • Servant Dominik
    Stano Danciak
    • Innkeeper
    Jirí Krytinár
    Jirí Krytinár
    • Reciting Madman
    Katerina Ruzicková
    • Asylum inmate
    Iva Littmanová
    • Asylum inmate
    Katerina Valachová
    • Asylum inmate
    Josef Kaspar
    • Insane erotomaniac
    Miroslav Navrátil
    • Dream warden
    Jirí Maria Sieber
    Jirí Maria Sieber
    • Dream warden
    Ctirad Götz
    Ctirad Götz
    • Ostler
    Milan David
    • Naked madman…
    Michael Hoffbauer
    • Naked madman
    Karel Herman
    • Feeble-minded warden
    • Director
      • Jan Svankmajer
    • Writers
      • Edgar Allan Poe
      • Marquis de Sade
      • Jan Svankmajer
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews27

    7.14K
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    Featured reviews

    9MOscarbradley

    A surreal masterpiece

    "Lunacy" is Jan Svankmajer's homage to Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis De Sade, (it's full of allusions to "Marat/Sade"), and as he tells us himself, is a horror film and not a work of art. It is certainly the first and I would argue it is also a work of art of quite a high order. It combines live-action with Svankmajer's trade-mark animation in giving us a study of what we might call 'the banality of evil' unlike almost anything else in cinema. It is a film that moves from a barely recognizable present to some kind of past as easily as it does from live-action to animation existing in a kind of no-man's-land between the real and surreal in a manner almost guaranteed to give you the very literal creeps; this is the real thing. Yet there is also something tongue-in-cheek about the horrors Svankmajer inflicts on us. There is a giddy perversity to the picture that to a degree dissipates the director's attack on the institutions he appears to condemn. This is as much a very bizarre celebration of hedonism as it is an attack on the communist regime. There's also an asylum in the film that makes the one at Charenton look like a Wendy House. Perverse, yes but also utterly extraordinary and undoubtedly one of Svankmajer's masterpieces.
    9vieira-adam

    the art house horror film of the year!!

    I just saw this film at the Montreal fantasia film festival. And this being Svankmajer's most recent film, I jumped for tickets. Absolutely amazing. Something of a political comment, the film show's us to ways of running an insane asylum. I have always loved Jan Svankmajer for his use of macabre animation (using raw meat, bones and eye balls). And it's use in context with 'Lunacy' is chilling. Truly one of the best horror films I've see all year. It's not the sort of horror that is entertaining to watch or bring your girlfriend. But if you love films and your looking for a horror film that will keep you thinking...then find a way to see this film.
    9stratonick

    Classic European cinema

    I recently saw this film at the Jeonju film festival in Korea. It was by far the best film I saw all weekend. Selini is like a combination of Godard, Herzog and classic Czech animation- the kind of committed and convincing political film making that is increasingly rare these days. In his introduction Svankmajer compares the excesses of extreme reactionary and liberal regimes and argues that we currentlycombine the worst of both worlds in encouraging people to do whatever they want whilst relying on punishment and fear to keep them under control. The plot (based on an Edgar Allen Poe short story) is simple- an innocent traveller bears witness to the lunatics taking over the asylum. But the nightmarish atmosphere of confusion and fear, enhanced by gruesome stop motion animation between scenes, is both compelling, disturbing and extremely effective in communicating the directors ideas. The acting is committed and convincing and the story has, like the decline into madness, a chilling inevitability about it. The film uses this simple story to explore more challenging philosophical concepts. You don't have to be a fan of art-house cinema to understand and enjoy this exciting movie. 9/10
    8schism101

    the Gothic and the grotesque

    Jan Svankmajer is one director to imaginatively combine real life images with the inventive use of stop motion animation that produces grotesque and nightmarish images that unnerve the viewer. LUNACY is further proof of this and its influence of Edgar Allen Poe and Marquis De Sade is perfect for the vision of Svankmajer. Its story concerns an innocent young man, travelling home from his mothers funeral who spends some time with a wealthy man, known only as the Marquis (possibly the Marquis De Sade). The young man bears witness to the Marquis' debauched and blasphemous rituals and after some philosophical discussion over the rights and wrongs of man and religion, the young man under the request of the Marquis goes undercover into an insane asylum and falls under the spell of a women who insists that he helps her release the actual warders and doctors who are locked away, as the inmates are running the asylum. The film is a bizarre yet brilliant look at a world gone insane, where fear, punishment and madness is ruling and no one is in charge and whoever is in charge is corrupted by there own absolute power and twisted morality. The stop motion animation interludes add to the grotesque and surreal nature of the film and even offers it to comparisons with the body horror films of David Cronenberg. Overall its an art house horror that provides the viewer an uneasy yet unforgettable journey into insanity.
    9johnmuir76

    Fantastic film, but...Marat?

    Svankmajer impresses as always. His movies are always beautiful, disturbing, and wonderful. The acting ensemble is also impressive..and I cannot imagine a better actor to play the Marquis de Sade. My one criticism, though, is a big one:

    The story...there's already a much better version of this story. It's "The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade". ( Peter Weiss' play from 1963).

    Now - I assume Svankmajer is aware of Weiss's play, but maybe he isn't? I don't know. I did highly enjoy Svankmajer's movie.

    Part of me thinks he should have just done Weiss's play.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The official Czech submission to the 2007 Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Uborshchitsa

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    FAQ19

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 17, 2005 (Czech Republic)
    • Countries of origin
      • Czech Republic
      • Slovakia
    • Official site
      • Official site (Czech Republic)
    • Language
      • Czech
    • Also known as
      • Lunacy
    • Filming locations
      • Lipnice nad Sázavou, Czech Republic(castle)
    • Production companies
      • Athanor
      • C-Ga Film
      • Ceská Televize
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $48,324
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $3,245
      • Aug 13, 2006
    • Gross worldwide
      • $133,982
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 58 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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