Lee Eisenberg Jan Švankmajer has made a career out of bizarre images, and "Spiklenci slasti" ("Conspirators of Pleasure" in English) continues that. It depicts some people who come up with weird ways to fulfill their sexual fetishes. Whether it's a pornographic papier-mâché rooster head, tiny bits of bread, or something else, these people have some wacky ideas. I suspect that part of the movie's purpose is to show that the Czech Republic had just broken free of Soviet domination, so overt sexuality was still awkward. But even if you ignore that, you have to appreciate that someone was willing to put all this stuff on screen. I also recommend Švankmajer's black comedy "Little Otik".A fun time all around.

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) OK. I'm not familiar with any of this Jan bloke's work, but it just so happened that his surrealist face popped up on Channel 4 and three of his films popped up. I thought they sounded interesting, and when I looked on IMDb people seemed to be raving about his films! Unfortunately (or fortunately!) I missed the first two, so I only had Conspirators of Pleasure to be given a go. A surrealist film with no dialogue? That's got to be interesting, and with a 7.5 rating on IMDb. I thought I was in for something of a memorable night. I was. But not in a good way.I was intrigued to see how the film would turn out and it did not turn out well! I'd like those 90 minutes of my life back please! To call it the weirdest film I've ever seen would be an understatement, and I've seen Taxidermia for Christ's sake! The first half of Conspirators basically follows 5 people (with a news reader on the side) constructing things. I don't know what (and I'm still not too sure) but they're all obviously disturbed people. E.g. A woman gets a piece of bread and makes little bread balls and takes them home. I'll give you a million pounds if you could guess what she does with them! Conspirators has been billed as a comedy but I didn't laugh once. I may have chuckled the first time the man with the tash picked up a dust bin lid and that dramatic opera music played, but then it just became repetitive. The second half is when things take a disturbing turn. I don't want to spoil it, but there are some images that will never leave my head and I'd actually quite like them to go! It's just weird. It's worse than weird, it's indescribable and very unsettling. The chicken man was just disturbing with its terrifying use of animation and surrealism. I hated that frightening claymation of the man which the fat woman whipped. I don't know if these are suppose to be the funny parts, but that's the last thing I wanted to do.Maybe Conspirators would've worked better if it had a plot, but it didn't. It had a point (apparently) and that was to show human perversion and people's fetishes. However, I prefer my points to be served as a side order with a big portion of plot. Conspirators just wants to show startling imagery. And despite all of this incredibly weird imagery, the film still remains very dull and kind of boring. I was very happy when it was over, and felt very disturbed. Jan needs his head sorting out if he can come up with this sort of stuff. He should be in a special hospital for the artistically insane. And what's more disturbing is that people are raving about this! It unsettles me to think that people would watch this stuff again and again like I would Kill Bill.Conspirators is just plain weird and not at all fun to watch. At least Taxidermia had a bit of plot and fun in it! Although, Conpirators did show a hint of plot at the end but it still didn't make any sense at all. If you're after a well-written masterpiece with deep characterisation and strong plot then go for Black Swan. On the other hand, if you're seeking a seriously what the f*** did I just watch film, with disturbing imagery, no plot and dull directing. Conspirators of Pleasure is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Shannon Weiss Jan Svankmajer's Conspirators of Pleasure is a film that speaks to an individualistic demographic to say the least. The film utilizes a combination of live action footage and stop action animation techniques to portray the lives of six people whose lives are dictated by their disturbing sexual fetishes. While some find the interconnected narratives humorous and others appear to relate to the story, this writer for one found nothing about the film witty or meaningful. In terms of thematic relevance the film does illustrate one reoccurring motif that the writer took note of: prior to executed their elaborate sexual desires, be it through torture, role play or a variety of more bizarre activities, the characters isolated themselves often through the use of a symbolic wardrobe door. Seemingly out of shame due to the oppressive nature of society in the given country each of the characters attempts to remain 'in the closet' so to speak, about their deviant personal lives. The film posits no conclusive ending and allows each character to remain more or less unchanged; the film therefore is little more than an unnecessary display of unusual behavior and this writer would have preferred it if the closet door had remained closed.

ionford 8/10This is my favorite full-length Svankmajer film, and not just because the lack of dialogue leaves no room for poor casting decisions in the dub for the American release (see Alice).Besides the fact that fetish films are better or worse depending on the level of weirdness in the fetishes portrayed, this subject compliments Svankmajer's style perfectly.The Kino DVD release comes with a bonus short film, Food, which illustrates what I'm talking about perfectly. Food is typical Svankmajer in how meticulously the temporal details are. If we see one man eating a full breakfast out of another man's vending-organs, the next man in line's breakfast has to be given the same time and detailed effort in portraying.Likewise, Conspirators of Pleasure leaves nothing to the imagination but the story. But that's what fetishes are all about. Perverse in their contortion of sexual mores but perverse also in their slavery to the mundane details and meticulous planning.This is a very worthwhile study in perversity that doubles as pretty straightforward and blunt surrealism.