Neco z Alenky (1988)

Director:

Jan Svankmajer

Writers:

Lewis Carroll (novel) and
Jan Svankmajer (writer)

Release Date:

26 March 1989 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Fantasy | Thriller

Plot:

A surrealist re-visioning of Alice in Wonderland.

Plot Keywords:

Rabbit | Alice In Wonderland | Dark Fantasy | Social Satire | Foreign Language Adaptation

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Kristýna Kohoutová	...	Alice
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Camilla Power	...	Alice (uncredited)

Directed by
Jan Svankmajer

Writing credits
Lewis Carroll		(novel "Alice in Wonderland")
Jan Svankmajer		writer

Produced by
Hannes Bressler	....	associate producer
Peter-Christian Fueter	....	producer
Keith Griffiths	....	executive producer
Michael Havas	....	executive producer
Paul Madden	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Svatopluk Malý

Film Editing by
Marie Zemanová

Production Design by
Jan Svankmajer

Art Direction by
Jirí Bláha
Eva Svankmajerová

Production Management
Eva Heiglová	....	production supervisor
Jaromír Kallista	....	production manager

Sound Department
Robert Jansa	....	sound
Ivo Spalj	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Andy Arnautov	....	gaffer

Animation Department
Bedrich Glaser	....	animator

Other crew
Terezka Chudobová	....	unspecified assistant
Karolina Glaserová	....	unspecified assistant
Eva Heiglová	....	production coordinator
Ivona Krehová	....	unspecified assistant
Nikolka Kreková	....	unspecified assistant
Larry Sider	....	english version supervisor
Václav Svankmajer	....	unspecified assistant
Alice Turner	....	translator
Gerry Turner	....	translator

Production Companies

• Channel Four Films
• Condor Films
• Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)
• Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG)

Distributors

• First Run Features (1988) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (1988) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (2009) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Asociácia slovenských filmových klubov (ASFK) (2009) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
• First Run Features (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• First Run Features (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (1991) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Moskwood Media (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1991) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Alice" - International (English title)
"Nieco z Alenky" - Czechoslovakia (Slovak title)
"Alice" - Brazil
"Alice" - France
"Alice" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Aliki" - Greece (festival title)
"Cos z Alicji" - Poland (imdb display title)
"Liisa ihmemaassa" - Finland (TV title)
"Qualcosa da Alice" - Italy (imdb display title)

Runtime:

86 min | Argentina:86 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Czechoslovakia | Switzerland | UK | West Germany

Language:

Czech

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Czech Republic:U | UK:PG

Company:

Channel Four Films

Goofs:

Continuity: In the outdoor scene when Alice cuts her finger, she is obviously missing a front tooth.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alice:Alice thought to herself... Alice thought to herself 'Now you will see a film... made for children... perhaps... ' But, I nearly forgot... you must... close your eyes... otherwise... you won't see anything.

Movie Connections:

References The Shining (1980)

Close your Eyes

The Alice books are one of the two richest works of literature yet produced. Of the best literature, Alice lends itself to cinematic reinterpretation. And this filmmaker has vision.

But Alice is a coherent work, following the 'apprentice' novel and having kabbalistic structure. This film is episodic, each episode conceived as a different world, connected only by doors. The stories establish an abstract world, a world of logic so pure that the weaknesses of logic are apparent. That's only in part attempted here.

Though in Czech, there is some dainty wordplay: Alice is messing about in her drawers. Initially, these contain drawing equipment, later scissors. The filmmakers' signature 'large person in small room' image is used here in the episode where 'Maryanne' (Alice plus her 'house) is attempted entry by Bill the lizard, Dodgson's image of sperm. Bill is mirrored later in the frog-footman, heavily phallic as is an introduced sequence where the feet themselves become penile, then advisory.

Svenkmajer understands the cards as Tarot, a seldom understood insight and adds a vignette of the March Hare and Hatter playing cards (almost certainly a nod to 'Seventh Seal'). There's some very good visual handling of inside/outside ambiguities, and stage/reality shifting -- this alone makes this project worth sharing. But aside from that, it seems that the magic of Alice's world has yet to be tapped by a filmmaker.

Note: in Carroll's vision, innocence trumps all: logic is seen as manmade and fallible. In this world confabulated reasoning threatens but no one really loses their head. Not so in Svenkmajer's bleak world. Heads really are lost. Innocence is at least dumbfounded and possibly unreal (those socks). Many heads are already decayed with only the skull remaining. Some beings are composed of empty skulls alone or with some ambulatory object. This is not a happy man, nor a world with any sunshine. I would not give these images to any child.