Walerian Borowczyk

  • Walerian Borowczyk – Blanche (1971)

    1971-1980ArthouseDramaWalerian Borowczyk

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    Quote:
    In this remarkable film, Borowczyk, through his commitment to ambiguity (notably in his framing, which forever denies the foreground/background opposition) and his belief in almost entomological observation, transforms his 13th century characters – a foolish old Baron, an overproud King, a lecherous page and a stupidly handsome lover, all of whom are in love with and/or lust after the simple Blanche, the Baron’s young wife – into tragic figures caught up in a dance of death over which they have no control. In exactly the same way, the castle and its decor, photographed by Borowczyk as though it were living and its inhabitants were mere dolls for the most part, is seen as the backdrop to a happy fairytale, and at the same time as the root of all evil, as rooms and bizarre machines are opened and set in motion.Read More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk & Chris Marker – Les astronautes (1959) (HD)

    1951-1960Chris MarkerExperimentalFranceShort FilmWalerian BorowczykWalerian Borowczyk and Chris Marker

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    Quote:
    The Astronauts (1959) is a short, collaborative animation project between eccentric filmmakers Walerian Borowczyk and Chris Marker. Borowczyk would later move into live-action film-making, turning his attention to a cinema of perverse eroticism with projects like Goto, The Island of Love (1969), The Immoral Tales (1974), Beast (1975) and Emmanuelle 5 (1987). Likewise, Marker would produce the short masterpiece La Jetée (1962), the celebrated proto-documentary Sans Soleil (1983) and his critical study of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, A.K. (1985). The film, at twelve-minutes in length, is a testament to the creative energy and ideas of these two filmmakers, not only standing as an interesting short film in its own right, but as a window into the creative world of these two, highly skilled, highly original filmmakers. It remains an amazing piece of work for this very reason, more so perhaps than any other; even if it is admittedly impossible to distinguish between which filmmaker was responsible for each individual part of the creative process, leaving us to assume that it was a pure collaboration in every sense of the word.Read More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk – Goto, l’île d’amour aka Goto, The Isle Of Love [+Extras] (1969)

    1961-1970DramaFrancePoliticsWalerian Borowczyk

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    Synopsis:
    Walerian Borowczyk’s second feature was just as original as his first. Almost entirely live action this time, it is situated on the archipelago of Goto, which has been cut off from the rest of human civilisation by a massive earthquake and has consequently developed its own arcane rules. Melancholic dictator Goto III (Pierre Brasseur) is married to the beautiful Glossia (Ligia Branice), who in turn is lusted after by the petty thief Gozo (Guy Saint-Jean) as he works his way up the hierarchy. Read More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk – La marge aka The Margin (1976)

    1971-1980EroticaFranceWalerian Borowczyk

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    IMDb comments:

    Walerian Borowczyk’s Most Underrated Film

    Borowczyk remains one of the least appreciated filmmakers of his era, inarguably an auteur, but one so erratic and unusual that he remains cherished only by a handful of critics for his early surrealist work and by cult movie devotees for his later, sexually-explicit films. While from the mid-seventies onward his films would range from the good (Behind Convent Walls, The Story of Sin) to the not-so-good (The Art of Love, Immoral Tales, etc), his film-making legacy rests with the bizarre La Bete, which unfortunately belongs to the latter category. However it is his early films (both animated and live action) that are undoubtedly Borowczyk’s key works – Blanche, for instance, is one of the finest films ever made, while Goto the Island of Love is almost as good – and in many ways these films set up the themes that would be prevalent throughout much of his subsequent work, most importantly that sex is constantly linked with guilt, persecution and death.Read More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk – La Marge AKA Emmanuelle ’77 (1976)

    1971-1980EroticaFranceWalerian Borowczyk

    The Margin (French: La Marge, also known as The Streetwalker and Emmanuelle 77) is a 1976 French erotic drama film written and directed by Walerian Borowczyk and starring Sylvia Kristel. It is loosely based on the novel The Margin by André Pieyre de Mandiargues.Read More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk – Contes immoraux AKA Immoral Tales (1974)

    1971-1980EroticaFranceWalerian Borowczyk

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v712/buttzilla/6305807876.jpg

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    Plot Summary:..
    Four erotic tales from in various historical eras. The first, ‘The Tide’, is set in the
    present day, and concerns a student and his young female cousin stranded on the beach by the tide, secluded from prying eyes. ‘Therese Philosophe’ is set in the nineteenth century, and concerns a girl being locked in her bedroom, where she contemplates the erotic potential of the objects contained within it. ‘Erzsebet Bathory’ is a portrait of the sixteenth-century countess who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins, while ‘Lucrezia Borgia’ concerns an incestuous fifteenth-century orgy involving Lucrezia, her brother, and her father the Pope.Read More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk – Les Heroines du Mal AKA Heroines of Evil AKA Three Immoral Women (1979)

    1971-1980CultEroticaItalyWalerian Borowczyk

    http://www.cinema-francais.fr/images/affiches/affiches_b/affiches_borowczyk_walerian/les_heroines_du_mal.jpg

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    Each of the three women in this film shows a tendency to kill their human lovers, and two of them evince a sexual attachment to their pets. In the first story, the model for artist Raphael seduces and kills Raphael and another man. In the second, a girl with a suspiciously satisfying relationship with her pet rabbit murders her parents for killing her bunny. Finally, Marie has a dog whose unusual means of effecting her rescue not only saves her from a kidnapper, but gets her out of an unhappy marriage.
    -All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Walerian Borowczyk – Ars amandi aka The Art of Love (1983)

    1981-1990ArthouseEroticaItalyWalerian Borowczyk

    http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6900/arsamandi1983.jpg

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    Plot / Synopsis

    In his 2006 obituary, The New York Times called Walerian Borowczyk “the internationally known filmmaker described variously as a genius, a pornographer, and a genius who also happened to be a pornographer.” And for the final film in his ‘Immoral Trilogy’, Borowczyk created one of the most lushly bizarre erotic tales of our time and perhaps the most ambitious work of his entire career. The setting is Rome, 8 A.D., where the poet Ovid watches over an epoch of forbidden seduction and unnatural acts among maidens, centurions, servant girls and the occasional farm animal. Marina Pierro , Laura Betti, Milena Vukotic and Massimo Girotti star in this sumptuous art/smut classic, now fully restored and presented uncensored.Read More »

  • Just Jaeckin, Shuji Terayama, Walerian Borowczyk – Private Collections AKA Collections privees [+Extras] (1979)

    1971-1980EroticaFantasyFranceJust JaeckinShuji TerayamaVariousWalerian Borowczyk

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    Quote:
    “For legendary producer Pierre Braunberger (Shoot The Piano Player), it was the most enticing of challenges: Invite the three most controversial directors in modern erotic cinema to indulge their fantasies in one daring film. The result remains one of the most uniquely sensual motion pictures of our time.

    In the first story from director Just Jaeckin (Emmanuelle, Gwendoline), a castaway sailor is rescued by a tribe of succulent native women – led by the stunning Laura Gemser of Black Emmanuelle fame – who soon reveal their most unusual appetites. Then director Shuji Terayama (Fruits Of Passion) explores the haunting tale of a Japanese boy seduced by the riddle song of a village madwoman. And in the bold adaptation of a short story by De Maupassant, director Walerian Borowczyk (Immoral Women, The Beast) reveals the torrid liaison between a Parisian gentleman, a Follie Bergere prostitute and an unexpected surprise that hides in the night.”Read More »

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