The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema takes the viewer on an exhilarating ride through some of the greatest movies ever made. Serving as presenter and guide is the charismatic Slavoj Zizek, the superstar Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst who will be visiting UBC next month. With his engaging and passionate approach to thinking, Zizek delves into the hidden language of cinema, uncovering what movies can tell us about ourselves, even stepping into the scenes of classics by Hitchcock, Lynch, Tarkovsky et al to better bring his theories to life.

The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema offers an introduction into some of Zizek’s most exciting ideas on fantasy, reality, sexuality, subjectivity, desire, materiality and cinematic form. Whether he is untangling the famously baffling films of David Lynch, or overturning everything you thought you knew about Hitchcock, Zizek illuminates the screen with his passion, intellect, and unfailing sense of humour. The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema applies Zizek’s ideas to the cinematic canon, in what The Times calls “an extraordinary reassessment of cinema.”

For Zizek, it’s a visually exuberant showcase of his infectious enthusiasm around the workings of both the mind and medium. The shared result is essential viewing, for cinephiles of course, but also for anyone interested in the enduring power of cinema to shape our desires and fuel our dreams.

Gareth Evans, Time Out

A highly entertaining and often brilliant tour of modern cinema.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

A delightful two-and-a-half-hour repast for mindful film junkies.

Ty Burr, Boston Globe