Plot
A horror movie testing two approaches to running an insane asylum - absolute freedom versus control and punishment - within the context of a world that combines the worst of both. Jean Berlot, a young man subject to a nightmare of being forced into a straitjacket by two orderlies, is befriended by a marquis. At the marquis's estate, Jean witnesses a black Mass, buries someone alive, and is invited to try preventive therapy. He's willing to enter a sanatorium because he believes he can rescue a young woman from there who has told him that the real director and staff of the clinic are locked in the basement. Jean conspires with her to set them free: the horrors have only begun.
Written by
Edgar Allan Poe, Marquis de Sade, Jan Svankmajer
Directed by
Jan Svankmajer
Crew
Production Countries
Czech Republic, Slovakia
Production Companies
Barrandov Studio, Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, Eurimages Council of Europe, ATHANOR, Státní fond CR pro podporu a rozvoj ceské kinematografie, Ceská televize, MEDIA Programme of the European Union
Languages
Ceský
Awards
8 wins & 7 nominations