Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Mild
- provocative
- surreal
- witty
- arthouse film night
- political cinema screening
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Makavejev's audacious fusion of documentary, fiction, erotic politics, and montage as a landmark of Yugoslav avant-garde cinema.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Yugoslav fictional plot is repeatedly interrupted by interviews, Reich-related material, and other documentary footage.
The film links Stalinist repression and Russia's relationship with Yugoslavia to Freudian sexual repression and Reichian theory.
The film cuts between its primary story, interviews, political metaphors, and disparate cultural footage instead of maintaining conventional continuity.
Wilhelm Reich's Orgone energy theories and sex-education material provide the film's central countercultural framework.
Films like WR: Mysteries of the Organism, and why
The Cremator
experimental political satire, sexual liberation themes, and collage-like documentary-fiction form
The Hour of the Furnaces
avant-garde editing, ideological critique, and provocative fusion of fiction with documentary material
The Holy Mountain
surreal political allegory, erotic transgression, and formally disruptive filmmaking
In the Realm of the Senses
radical sexual politics, documentary intrusion, and countercultural experimental style
Movie Details
- Director
- Dušan Makavejev
- Release Date
- 1971-05-10
- Runtime
- 85 min
- Rating
- 6.2 / 10 (101)
Cast
- Milena Dravić
- Ivica Vidović
- Jagoda Kaloper
- Tuli Kupferberg
- Zoran Radmilović
- Jackie Curtis
- Miodrag Andrić
- Živka Matić
- Dragoljub Ivkov
- Nikola Milić
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is WR: Mysteries of the Organism about?
- A formally explosive Yugoslav collage that turns sexual liberation, Reichian theory, and communist repression into comic political provocation.
- What is WR: Mysteries of the Organism like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of WR: Mysteries of the Organism as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is WR: Mysteries of the Organism violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in WR: Mysteries of the Organism as mild.
- What did critics think of WR: Mysteries of the Organism?
- Critics broadly regard Makavejev's audacious fusion of documentary, fiction, erotic politics, and montage as a landmark of Yugoslav avant-garde cinema.
- Which films are like WR: Mysteries of the Organism?
- Films with a similar feel include The Cremator, The Hour of the Furnaces, The Holy Mountain, and In the Realm of the Senses.
- How long is WR: Mysteries of the Organism?
- WR: Mysteries of the Organism runs 85 minutes.
- Where can I watch WR: Mysteries of the Organism?
- In United States, WR: Mysteries of the Organism streams on Criterion Channel.
