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Taxidermia (2006)
Starring Csaba Czene, Gergely Trócsányi, Marc
Bischoff, István Gyuricza & Piroska Molnár
Directed by György Pálfi
Written by György Pálfi, Lajos Parti Nagy
& Zsófia Ruttkay
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At this point in my series exploring the darkest corners of world cinema, I am beginning to identify some common elements that are common to Sick Fucking Films.
Explicit, hardcore sex
Deviant sex
Graphic depictions of the killing or torturing of animals
Abundant excretions of bodily fluids
Physical deformity
Brutal human misogyny
A general rejection of or contempt for society
Taxidermia, a 2006 Hungarian film directed by György Pálfi, has all those elements, in glorious abundance. Yet it will not make my final list for consideration as Sickest Fucking Film Ever.
Based on the plot, Taxidermia should be a prime contender. It tells the stories of three generations of Hungarian men, all of whom live unhappy lives outside the mainstream of society. The first segment is set during World War 2, and features a harelip Hungarian Army private who spends his days being abused by his Lieutenant and his nights engaged in perverted masturbatory fantasies. He manages to sneak in a quickie with the Lieutenant's fat wife, getting her pregnant and getting his brains blown out as a reward. Nine months later, little Balatony is born, complete with a pig's tail curling out his ass.
The film jumps ahead to the 1960s, when Balatony is a big (literally) boy and a competitive speed eater, vying for some bizarre Soviet Communist Bloc championship. He falls in love with the pudgy, but cute women's champion, Gizi, but his career as a speed eater is derailed by an unfortunate case of lockjaw. The story of Balatony and Gizi's child, Lajoska, comprises the last segment of the film, set in the present. Lajoska is a skilled taxidermist who looks like a vampire (a creepy, un-Twilight, not very sparkly vampire) and longs for the beautiful but vapid check-out girl at the local grocery store. Lajoska is burdened by having to care for his now monstrously obese father, who spends his days watching tapes of speed eating competitions and nurturing his dream of raising champion speed eating cats. Naturally, every thing goes to shit spectacularly, and poor Lajoska finishes the family saga off by applying his skills at taxidermy to himself.
I really liked Taxidermia and that is why it fails as a Sick Fucking Film. The movie is very skillfully made, the most accomplished film in this series to date. The middle sequence is a brilliant send up of Cold War era Soviet life, as uniformed children march around waving flags and singing patriotic songs while the fat speed eating competitors are puking up the contents of the last round into troughs. Something about that whole sequence to me seems to sum up everything that was awful about the old Soviet Union.
The characters are all fully realized and very well portrayed by the movie's actors. You connect with their sad, unrealized dreams and develop empathy for them even as they are engaged in a series of disgusting behaviors. You can see how they are prisoners of their lives and are only trying their best to overcome the doom that awaits them all.
Never once did I wince or feel the need to look away during Taxidermia, despite the nearly uninterrupted parade of puke, shit, hog butchering, fat people fucking, organ removal, or flaming jizz. I guess that is what I am looking for in the Sickest Fucking Film Ever: the one movie that can make someone as jaded as me turn away in revulsion.
But I am really glad I caught Taxidermia, and I recommend it strongly to the jaded or un-jaded among you.
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patrick