Dir. Jan Svankmajer
Czechoslovakia-Switzerland-West Germany-UK
Note: At least with the UK DVD release, the original
language version of the film is available, so don’t be put off if the English
dub shown in this clip is off-putting.
What Is It?
A pretty faithful
adaptation of the Lewis Carroll story Alice in Wonderland viewed through the eyes of surrealist
animator Jan Svankmajer, who made his feature film debut after a few decades of
acclaimed shorts.
And?
Alice is almost a continuation from Jabberwocky (1971),
which combined another Lewis Carroll work of the same name with Svankmajer’s
perception of childhood, existing in the same universe as each other. Immediately
from the start of the film, it is less a children’s film and more of a
surrealist fantasy art film, where Wonderland is interpreted through corridors
of a home and its habitants are stop motion creations made from bone, fur, thread
etc. It also separates itself from many children’s films in that its child protagonist
is not an idolised version of a child, innocent and yet aware of their
surroundings, doing what they can to be kind to others. The Alice in this is a
more accurate portrait of a young child, very naive and learning about the
fantasy environment very slowly, more slowly than the viewer. Also in one
scene, at least for myself, where she is trapped in the White Rabbit’s house
made of toy bricks, she shows a selfish spitefulness without any malice where
she does not follow the requests of others for the sake of it, a rarity in
child characters in mainstream cinema.
For those who have not encountered Svankmajer’s work – and
you really should, as they are not just for animation fans, but for any film
viewer - his work is distinctive in that the man-made aspect of his animation
(and even the positioning of real people as actors) and their textures are
upfront and as much part of the films as everything else in them. His stop-motion,
and surrealistic flourishes, are usually created using everyday objects both
man-made (paper, tools and utensils etc.) and natural objects that are
manipulated by human beings (stones, taxidermy animals and bones); he has worked with paper animation and puppetry as well amongst other things, but the
emphasis on the materials, and their textures and appearances, is still
apparent. (Both these styles appear in Alice as well, and are completely
inseparable from everything else). Every scene feels like it has by crafted by
someone’s own hands, with the flaws of manipulating and moulding everything
into place as much part of generating the atmosphere of his work, be it a short
or feature film work.
In the context of other adaptations of Carroll’s story, Svankmajer’s
style looks far more ‘creepy’ and ‘unsettling’ compared to something like
Disney's, an aspect which is purposely emphasised by having such images as loaves
of bread suddenly spurting nails from inside them or the White Rabbit
continually losing sawdust from the gaping tear in his chest. However the style
is able to go from this to charming and humorous as well, the later a definite part
of many of the director’s other work even if its black humour. For its source
material it is perfect, adding to the adult sense of whimsy which appears in
the original story (which, as well as being a surreal fantasy, satirised attitudes
of the British culture of that period, as seen when Alice is put on trial by
the King and Queen of Hearts). As an
interpretation of childhood, it is just as good, enforced by the use of old
style toys that look Victorian at times in appearances. A universal nature in
Jan Svankmajer’s work can be seen in the fact that these everyday items are
ones that viewers probably possessed or know of greatly – owned by themselves
or relatives, found in their attics, or even found on car boot sales and in
antique stores – regardless of their country of origin. Svankmajer is also an imaginative
filmmaker who, as a practicing Surrealist who works in other mediums as well as
cinema, has a keen eye for inspired contrasts and juxtapositions. How fitting
is it that the portals to Wonderland and between each part are desk’s drawers,
part of a piece of furniture stories like this would be planned and written
upon?
Sadly Svankmajer’s other feature work after Alice have been
hard to find in the United Kingdom, but having seen Conspirators of Pleasure
(1996) and Little Otik (2000) he has affectively taken all of his obsessions from his short work and combined them into longer form narratives that show the craft of a talented
veteran filmmaker. Also worthy of praise, especially with Alice, is Welsh film
producer Keith Griffiths who helped this film, and other Svankmajer works, to
be made. I ask of you the reader to look at his IMDB page, which I will provide
in this post, and look at his producer credits. Even though I have disliked or
hated some of the films he has produced, Griffiths has contributed to cinema in
general immensely, helping such filmmakers aside from Svankmajer like Chris
Petit, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and the Quay Brothers (who are huge admirers of
Svankmajer and made a short work in tribute to him) to make interesting and unique
works. Having Alice and Conspirators of Pleasure in one’s producer credits is
worth applauding, but Griffiths’ is even more incredible than this.
Alice is not my favourite Svankmajer feature (that would be Conspirators of Pleasure) let alone out of all of his filmography, but it is a
great achievement, a fantastical and surreal work which matches its subject
material like a hand to a glove. The film was finally released on UK DVD this
year thanks to the British Film Institution, part of a sudden surge of interest
in Alice in Wonderland in cinema that started in 2010. Hopefully his other feature
films will be made available, but this by itself was worth the wait for me.
Keith Griffiths’ IMDB Page - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341702/
