Surviving Life (2010)

Genres - Drama  |   Sub-Genres - Psychological Drama  |   Run Time - 105 min.  |   Countries - Czechia, Slovakia  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

A man finds love in his dream world and decides he'd rather stay there in this surreal and comic fusion of live action and animation from Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer. By day, Evzen (Vaclav Helsus) is an office drone who is bored with his job and has lost the spark in his marriage to Milada (Zuzanna Kronerova). However, when he sleeps, he has vivid recurring dreams in which he's won the heart of a beautiful young woman named Eva (Klara Issova) in a strange world filled with mutants and eccentrics. Evzen is quite taken with Eva, and while he doesn't dare tell Milada about her, he does consult his doctor (Frantisek Polata) -- he wants sleeping pills so he can spend more unconscious hours with Eva. The doctor refuses to give Evzen pills, though, and instead refers him to an analyst, Dr. Holubova (Daniela Bakerova), who helps uncover the secrets of Eva and her strange alternate reality. Meanwhile, as Evzen sleeps at night, his relationship with Eva progresses as she begins changing her name and introducing him to her former husband (also played by Helsus) and her young son (Jakub Frydrych). Prezit Svuj Zivot (aka Surviving Life) was an official selection at the 2010 BFI London Film Festival.

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Themes

Keywords

alternate-reality, dream-interpretation, obsession, psychoanalysis