The Pervert's Guide to Cinema Reviews

Slavoj Žižek, who narrates this fascinating exploration and analysis of modern film, introduces to us this important idea: “Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn’t give you what you desire—it tells you how to desire.” In no time at all (and with a thick accent) Žižek expounds on the power of film to alter one’s desire, simply by showing you characters that desire. By this simple act, film as a whole has altered the consciousness of the world, Žižek argues, by introducing ideas of want where none existed before. After giving us this basic premise, he rattles off ideas to support it, along with seemingly tangential tirades about psychoanalysis and Freud as fast as he can say it. Presented in a great style by director Sophie Fiennes in actual locations used in the famous films being analyzed, this seems like more of a platform for Žižek to be Žižek, who is clearly a gifted and powerful philosopher. He has great insight into memorable scenes, presenting first the clip and then his analysis and explanation of how it might affect a watcher. Some great thoughts include the idea of the voice as a foreign intruder, an entity that comes from the abyss inside of you that is not entirely yourself, mostly an actor for evil with undercurrents of well-meaning. He give details about the death drive, not in the Buddhist sense of seeking self-annihilation in order to find peace, but more along the lines of an inanimate object—something beyond death, almost undead—that possesses a sort of drive within it that causes humans to feel uneasy, to want to be rid of it; to want it. Žižek explains, “the only way to get rid of the object is to become the object,” thus setting us up to be reintroduced to his original idea of the pervert art of cinema and its influence on culture worldwide. I haven’t even begun to talk about Part 2 of this three-part film on cinema. If you are a fan of film analysis or Žižek, seek out this hard-to-find three-part documentary. There is much to be learned.