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A Serbian Film

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Beware of unmarked spoilers, almost all of which involve MAJOR Nausea Fuel and Squick

  • Accidental Aesop:
    • Though the writer and director maintains that it is an allegory for how he sees the Serbian government and European film industry, A Serbian Film can just as easily (if not more so) be viewed as a critique of the often humiliating, dehumanizing, and sadistic themes which permeate much of the contemporary porn industry—something which Total Films noted in their less-than-positive review of the film. The fact that the film is set in Serbia arguably adds to the effect, since the fall of communism and consequent dissolution of the socialist welfare state forced many Eastern Europeans (particularly in Russia, Romania, The Czech Republic, and Hungary) into the sex industry as a means of making ends meet.
    • Though this may not have been accidental after all. In a podcast in 2022, the film's writer revealed that the core premise was inspired by the cinematic exploits of Italian porn icon, Rocco Siffredi:
      Aleksandar Radivojević: Siffredi had been cranking out VHS tapes depicting himself engaged in brutal sexual acts on location with local girls in different parts of Europe (mostly in marginalized and poor post-communist Eastern European countries), all of which had an uncomfortable undertone of colonialism. One particular scene that stayed in my mind has him having sex with a girl in a car while in the background you see this forest out of which a group of grizzled beggars suddenly starts to emerge, at which point Siffredi who by now is done with the girl, 'returns her' to the downtrodden locals, handing her over to them in the manner of a modern-day Marquis de Sade as if to say: ‘here you go, I’ve finished what I needed to do, she's all yours now’. So, by making the main character in that original synopsis an aging male porn star, I began to incorporate this notion of modern-day colonialism via the sexual exploitation of a poor country's human resources.
  • Angst Aversion: With how infamously disturbing and bleak the film is, you'd be very hard pressed to find anyone willing to try to watch it.
  • Anvilicious: No need to beat around the bush here: Life in Serbia sucks.
  • Bile Fascination: The film's disturbing and grotesque nature is why most people even know what it is.
  • Broken Aesop: Complaints of disturbing content aside, one of the most frequent criticisms of the film is that its supposed commentary on life in post-war Serbia doesn't come across very well, at least for non-Serbs. Not only are Miloš and his family shown to be living in a rather large and ostentatious home which is pretty at odds with their supposed financial hardships,note  but the portrayal of Vukmir and his snuff film crew as a supposed allegory for government corruption in Serbia (with Miloš and his family representing the civilians abused under the system) is rather abstract and too much of a worst-case scenario for most non-Serbs to take seriously. The premise hit a little closer to home—both metaphorically and literally—in the film's own native Serbia (where the collapse of the socialist welfare state and numerous war crime convictions left the majority of government staff broke, forcing several of the country's most impoverished citizens into the sex industry as a means of income), though even there, it is still very much dependent on the viewer already harboring a great deal of resentment towards its government and the means to which many Serbs must resort in order to make ends meet in a post-war society.
  • Catharsis Factor:
    • After all the horrible, awful things that Vukmir and his gang do to Miloš and his family, it sure is gratifying to see Miloš finally regain awareness and kill Vukmir by repeatedly bashing his head into the floor, killing his doctor with one of the drugs she's been using on him, shooting two of Vukmir's guards with a handgun, and killing Raša (whom—need we reiterate—violated a newborn child for one of Vukmir's films) by stabbing him through the eye socket with his erection.
    • Marija brutally killing Marko after he's done violating her is also very cathartic.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • For some audiences, oh yes; for others, it's just plain disturbing and exploitative all around. However, many seem to agree that Raša's eye socket death qualifies with how comically over-the-top and satisfyingly gruesome it is.
    • Raša violating a newborn baby? Sickening and terrifying. Vukmir suddenly yelling "NEWBORN PORN!" while Milking the Giant Cow? Ridiculous and comedic.
  • Death of the Author: Pretty much no one believes the director's claim that the film is an allegory for the Serbian government. And even those who do believe him still maintain that the allegory is so abstract that it cannot be taken seriously by anyone who doesn't already have a pre-existing hatred of the Serbian government anyway.
  • Funny Moments:
  • Genius Bonus: The infamous NEWBORN PORN! scene appears to be a reference to the Newborn monument, built to commemorate Kosovo's formal declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia itself, however, still does not recognize Kosovo as its own autonomous entity, and it is unlikely that Spasojevic is unaware of this fact. His claim that the scene in question is an allegory for how Serbia 'screws its people from birth' lends credence to the theory.
  • Heartwarming Moments: Miloš's revenge against the film crew for raping his wife and tricking him into attacking his own son, enough so that Vukmir of all people praises it as being worthy enough to have a film.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • NEWBORN PORN! note 
    • The film's repulsive and disgusting subject matter has led to jokes claiming it to be an adaptation of The Aristocrats.
  • Moment of Awesome: While still pretty disturbing, Miloš brutally killing Vukmir, his doctor, and Raša is absolutely glorious considering the numerous atrocities they committed throughout the film.
  • Narm: The newborn rape scene is genuinely disturbing and disgusting. Vukmir yelling "NEWBORN PORN! NEWBORN!" on the other hand, is so hilariously over-the-top it can make some viewers chuckle. Some.
  • Nausea Fuel: Everything about this film to the point where it could be considered the cinematic adaptation of this trope. Special mention goes to the infamous newborn porn scene.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Now has its own page for a very good reason.
  • Signature Scene: Two words: NEWBORN PORN!. The sheer depravity of this scene alone is why the film's TV Tropes page is locked. That or the infamous eye rape scene—the latter mainly due to Miloš's expression during the scene appearing in much of the promotional material.
  • Special Effect Failure: A few, although they don't exactly make the film any less disturbing.
    • In a few shots, it is incredibly obvious that Miloš's penis is a rubber prop. The brief closeup shot of him threatening to cut it off is perhaps the most notable; the knife's blade actually penetrates it a couple of millimeters, yet there's a complete absence of blood.
    • When Miloš ejaculates onto someone's face, the semen is obviously fake—likely some sort of cream or lotion. This may have been done intentionally so as to avoid the film being even more banned/censored than it already is.
    • When Lejla has had her teeth removed, the actress' real and intact teeth are blatantly noticeable under the heavy amounts of fake blood used to cover them.
    • The one thing that can make the infamous "Newborn porn" scene slightly less disturbing is noticing (especially in the uncut version) that the baby appearing in it is clearly fake, akin to the one famously used in American Sniper.
  • Spiritual Successor: This movie feels like someone wanted to make a modern Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.
  • Squick: It would be much easier to list the scenes in the film that don't fall under it.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: It is of little dispute that the film is not only disturbing, but also uncomfortably bleak, considering the fact that none of the characters are likable in the film, and even Miloš, while easily the most sound character in the movie, does some pretty horrible stuff particularly when under the film crew's influence. And considering the Downer Ending where the family dies at the end via suicide, and their corpses get defiled by another team of filmmakers, it is no wonder why its really hard to genuinely care about what happens in the film.

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