Six fetishists cross paths in modern-day Prague in this sublimely surreal fictional glimpse at the bizarre private pleasures of everyday people: a porno-loving bachelor fashions a mask out of a freshly killed chicken's head in an effort to out-voodoo his nemesis, a middle-aged female neighbor; a local-beat cop builds a French tickler out of nails, rubber gloves, fur, and a rolling pin in one room, while his wife gets her toes sucked by a fish in another; and, not last nor least, a postal worker has a very interesting way with balls of bread dough.

Known for his stop-animation fantasies based on "Alice in Wonderland" and the Faust legend, Czech surrealist Svankmajer has honed to a fine point his characteristic blend of Eastern European puppetry and Euro weirdness in the tradition of Max Ernst and Salvador Dali. "Pleasure," mostly a live-action feature with a few mechanical dolls and marionettes tossed in for good measure, might just be his most bizarre, disturbing film ever — and the hardest to parse. But trust me: Svankmajer's distinctive mix of oddball humor and existential despair contains more than a touch of genius, and is sure to work strange wonders on your imagination.