Among philosophers, academics, and cultural critics, Slavoj Zvizvek is the rising superstar of the moment. The Slovenian, who tends to take a Marxist-Lacanian-Freudian approach, has an unforgettable, sometimes hyperactive presentational style. He’s also written books on a number of topics, including Lenin and the September 11 terrorist attacks. But his favorite subject is the movies.

In The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (May 19), a new visual essay told in three parts and directed by Sophie Fiennes (sister of actors Ralph and Joseph), Zvizvek speaks convincingly, passionately, and provocatively about the power of cinema and the movies he loves: Mulholland Dr., Eyes Wide Shut, City Lights, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, The Matrix, and Three Colors: Blue. Whether discussing how pornography usually fails to be truly erotic or the psychological subtext in a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Zvizvek finds the hidden language behind the sound and images, and always uncovers something fascinating that movies tell us about the way we live and think. In his sometimes startling discussions, Zvizvek talks about the use of toilets as metaphor in The Conversation and Psycho; why Bergman’s Persona features the screen’s most erotic scene and Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher the most depressive; and how the Marx Brothers represent the Ego, Superego, and Id.

Fiennes places our narrator in ingeniously recreated sets from the films in question, like Melanie’s dinghy from The Birds or Regan’s bedroom from The Exorcist, an effect that enhances Zvizvek’s frequently humorous approach. But don’t be mistaken; Zvizvek is not just here to simply amuse us. He’s deadly serious in his assertions that cinema is life and that life has become cinema.

In addition to the May 19 screening of The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, the Dryden’s May lineup also includes screenings of four of the films discussed at length by Zvizvek: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (May 20); Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (May 18) and Psycho (May 25); and Michael Powell’s The Red Shoes (May 27).