Review of Conspirators of Pleasure (1996) by Eric B — 20 Jan 2015

Six bizarre fetishists -- not necessarily focused on sex -- carry out their unique, elaborate rituals in Jan Svankmajer's unsettling "Conspirators of Pleasure." Svankmajer, best known for stop-motion animations, turns his microscope onto live actors with predictably provocative results.

He retains his coroner's eye, eternally digging into the inner gears and giblets of his subjects, but his ability to blur the line between people and machines is both a talent and a handicap. The guy just has no sense of humanity.

But what a remarkable set of impossible behaviors he has constructed. Revealing too many details would spoil the fun (advice: skip this website's exhaustive synopsis), but let's just say the perverse games involve items like fur scraps, bread balls, false arms, rolling pins, live fish, porn mags, chicken masks, straw and a balloon of blood.

It's just a shame that he is so endlessly fascinated with slurps, sloshes and squirts -- any chance he has for a tight shot of something (anything!) making an unpleasant noise, he grabs with gusto.

The action literally turns nauseating at times.