Fresh
The wittiest and possibly truest thing in it is an analysis of Stalinist propaganda films as displaced pornography.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
WR: Mysteries of the Organism
The film they said we would never see...
1971 · 1h 25m · NOT RATED
Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Directed by
Dušan Makavejev
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WR: Mysteries of the Organism
Overview
What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire Dušan Makavejev has the answers (or the questions). His surreal documentary-fiction collision begins as an investigation into the life and work of controversial psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and then explodes into a free-form narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl’s sexual liberation.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
85%
Tomatometer
Fresh
ndeed, it's hard to think of a headier mix of fiction and nonfiction, or sex and politics, than this brilliant 1971 Yugoslav feature by Dusan Makavejev.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Rotten
It is no wonder then that the film, which begins by proclaiming that life should be joyful, turns out to be one of the gloomiest of recent memory.
David Bienstock, New York Times
Fresh
An insanely brilliant comedy.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Rotten
Although it seemed like some kind of breakthrough at the time, Makavejev's film isn't improving with age.
Time Out
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