Jan Švankmajer's 'Little Otik' Explores Surrealist Horror of Fertility and Consumption
The 2000 film 'Little Otik' (Otesánek) by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová offers a surrealist horror twist on a 19th-century fairytale, centering on a couple, Jan and Božena, who adopt a tree stump as their child due to their infertility. The unsettling opening features images of babies in a European town square, alluding to concerns about fertility; a study reveals that sperm counts in the US and Europe have decreased by half over the past 40 years. Božena pretends to be pregnant, nurturing the stump, which eventually develops a voracious appetite. Otík's consumption of a postal worker underscores the theme of food horror. Švankmajer's film explores issues of mental health, motherhood, and child abuse, employing absurdism to convey human suffering, with an online exclusive released on 6 November 2019.
Key facts
- Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová directed 'Little Otik' (Otesánek) in 2000
- The film is a surrealist version of a 19th-century fairytale
- A childless couple named Jan and Božena raise a tree stump as their son
- Otík has an insatiable appetite, eating a postal worker and scalping its mother
- Švankmajer's 1989 short 'Flora' features a woman with a vegetable body decomposing
- 'Meat Love' (1989) shows beefsteaks that flirt, dance, and are fried
- The film addresses fertility anxieties, with sperm counts halving in the US and Europe over 40 years
- It explores themes of paedophilia, toxic masculinities, and unfulfilled desire through surreal horror
Entities
Artists
- Jan Švankmajer
- Eva Švankmajerová
Institutions
- ArtReview
Locations
- US
- Europe