The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
Slavoj Žižek turns the history of cinema into a mischievous psychoanalytic investigation of desire, fantasy, and ideology.
Overview
Explore the hidden depths of cinema with a charismatic guide who reveals the psychological truths behind iconic films.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- None
- witty
- provocative
- intellectual
- film club discussion
- academic viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an inventive, witty, and intellectually stimulating exploration of cinema through Žižek’s engaging psychoanalytic commentary.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Slavoj Žižek delivers commentary from replica sets and original locations, creating the uncanny impression that he inhabits the films under discussion.
Žižek explicitly applies Lacanian psychoanalysis to cinema, examining desire, fantasy, ideology, and the hidden language of movies.
The three parts build a connected argument through successive discussions of cinematic examples and philosophical ideas.
The film reads works by Hitchcock, Lynch, and others as mechanisms that reveal fantasies, social beliefs, and ideological traps.
Films like The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, and why
Room 237
Like this film, it uses cinema itself as the subject of an intellectually playful, formally inventive documentary inquiry.
The Century of the Self
Both are essayistic documentaries in which a strong critical voice explores how films shape ideology, desire, and interpretation.
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Both combine film history, philosophical analysis, and provocative audiovisual collage to examine the hidden meanings of popular culture.
The Act of Killing
Both are witty, densely analytical documentaries about the psychological and cultural power of images and storytelling.
Movie Details
- Director
- Sophie Fiennes
- Release Date
- 2006-10-06
- Runtime
- 151 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (181)
Cast
- Slavoj Žižek
- Alfred Hitchcock
Common questions
- What is The Pervert's Guide to Cinema about?
- Slavoj Žižek turns the history of cinema into a mischievous psychoanalytic investigation of desire, fantasy, and ideology.
- What is The Pervert's Guide to Cinema like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Pervert's Guide to Cinema as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is The Pervert's Guide to Cinema violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in The Pervert's Guide to Cinema.
- What did critics think of The Pervert's Guide to Cinema?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an inventive, witty, and intellectually stimulating exploration of cinema through Žižek’s engaging psychoanalytic commentary.
- Which films are like The Pervert's Guide to Cinema?
- Films with a similar feel include Room 237, The Century of the Self, Los Angeles Plays Itself, and The Act of Killing.
- How long is The Pervert's Guide to Cinema?
- The Pervert's Guide to Cinema runs 151 minutes.
