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When Federico Fellini, arguing with a diehard neo-realist about the ending of Il bidone (What, it was demanded, was a troupe of seemingly medieval peasants, doing in this post-war crime story?), received the backing of his assistant director—"You should keep it because it's beautiful!"—he rejected the supportive comment. "No—not because it's beautiful, but because it's meaningful beauty."

What I've been wrestling with recently is the question of whether meaningful beauty is to be found in the works of Slovak filmmaker Juraj Herz. I think it can, but not in a straightforward way. Since Herz started life as an art director, it's of course tempting to see the pictorial charms of his films as essentially decorative, prettifying. But there's more going on. Maybe not consistently, but interestingly.

The first Herz I saw was The Virgin and the Monster (1978), which is a straight re-telling of the Beauty and the Beast...