The film uses a mix of cutout animation from photographs and live-action segments, and tells the story of a married man who lives a double life in his dreams, where he meets another woman.

[3] The film uses Alexander Glazunov's Concert Waltz No.1 in D,op 47 as opening and ending theme.

Surviving Life premiered on 7 September 2010 out of competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.

Young also noted, however, that the film's complex narrative and unconventional imagery "will not be everyone's cup of tea.

"[7] Variety editor Leslie Felperin complimented the chemistry between Helšus and Issová, and noted how the film was more similar to Czech mainstream comedies than what normally would be expected from the director: "For all the grotesquerie on display (and there's hardly anything here as disturbing as Svankmajer's imagery in Alice from 1988), pic feels much lighter in tone than the helmer's last few films, such as Lunacy, Greedy Guts (aka Little Otik), or Conspirators of Pleasure.