I'm a fan of Svankmajer, although he can be pretty freaky. What I love about this film in particular is how deeply the metaphor of the stage is exploited. Puppets, people, the city, the set.
A man is handing out flyers to the people coming out of the subway. The flyer is a map to a particular address. There is nothing more on it. One hapless character goes there and discovers the accouterment of an alchemist. He puts this on, as well as a fake beard and stage makeup. Tada, Faust. He is on the puppet stage. He takes of the clothing and cuts through the scenery and walks out through the back door out to the city. Yet he is still on the stage. In fact the story has become the inescapable element. The character can not free himself from the character.
This is quite fascinating especially given the pervasiveness of the story of Faust, the classic "Be careful what you wish for" scenario. The Faust story belongs to no one author and Svankmajer draws freely from Goethe, Marlowe and some others, including the Opera by Gounod (which is playing here in Grand Rapids in May 2009.) The movie is not based on any one Faust, but all of them and then some. A myth to be retold and re-imagined but always recognizable.
How it ends hardly matters. Goethe lets Faust get to heaven. Svankmajer, well, you'll have to see for yourself.
A good Svankmajer. A good Faust. My favorite Faust movie is still Faust (1926).