Alice (1988 film)
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| Něco z Alenky | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover For Neco z Alenky |
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| Directed by | Jan Švankmajer |
| Produced by | Peter-Christian Fueter |
| Written by | Lewis Carroll Jan Švankmajer |
| Starring | Kristýna Kohoutová Camilla Power (English dub voice) |
| Editing by | Marie Zemanová |
| Distributed by | First Run Reatures |
| Release date(s) | 3 August 1988 (USA) |
| Running time | 86 min. |
| Language | Czech English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Alice (original name: Něco z Alenky) is a 1988 Czech surrealist film by Jan Švankmajer. It retells the classic Lewis Carroll stories (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), but in an original style. The film combines live action with stop motion animation. Alice is played by Kristýna Kohoutová, and the English dubbed version features the voice of Camilla Power.
While the original stories were more whimsical and light-hearted, Alice is a more dark, bleak portrayal of the "Wonderland" saga.
[edit] The film
This retelling of the "Alice" story is continually ambiguous about whether or not Alice is in her real world, or when exactly she crosses over to the "Wonderland". Early in the film, Alice appears to be in her bedroom, when a stuffed rabbit display comes to life and breaks out of its cage. Alice follows it across a large field and through a desk, which leads to a cavern with a long elevator ride. "Wonderland" itself is a strange mix of a household-like area with very little concern for logical space or size. Its inhabitants tend to be strange mixtures of objects and dead animals, such as a bed with bird legs, or a stuffed lizard with glass eyes.
Some characters from the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland appear in similar original, creepy forms, such as a wind-up toy rabbit for the March Hare, or a sock with glass eyes for the Caterpillar. Similarly, several sequences from the original story, such as Alice's growing and shrinking via the consumption of unusual food and drink, or the scene in which a crying baby changes into a pig, are portrayed in original forms. For example, when Alice shrinks, she is transformed into a doll which looks fairly similar to her regular self.
The movie also contains a number of original sequences not related to the original novel. In one such sequence, Alice is trapped inside a doll-like shell and is locked in a food closet. She soon breaks free of the shell.
When the movie ends, it is ambiguous whether everything that happened to Alice was indeed real, or if she is still dreaming.
The visuals are often described as grotesque, perverse, or disturbing, but overall not repulsive. Prominent is the stuffed white rabbit, whose chest is constantly leaking so that he has to keep eating sawdust, and various morbidly animated skulls and slabs of raw meat products. As mentioned previously, many of the animated characters are made of surprising household objects. Scissors and knives are also recurring themes.
The film also features a jarring device in which a close-up of Alice's lips appears to deliver narrative sentences like "said the White Rabbit". This occurs constantly throughout the picture and is considered by some both irritating and indicative of some of Svankmajer's weaker didactic tendencies.
Alice's behavior and mood in the story is less lightly portrayed than the original "Wonderland" stories. Alice does, much like her portrayal in the original novels, investigate strange events and explore her world. However, her mood seems to be less cheerful and often somewhat depressed or helpless, like one might expect from someone exploring a creepy and confusing environment. This could be said to add to the film's bleak tone.
[edit] External links
- Alice at the Internet Movie Database
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