IMMORAL TALES | CONTES IMMORAUX

FRANCE | 1973 | COLOR | DCP | 105’ | FRENCH

For some, cinema would be better off without Walerian Borowczyk. For others, the genius, sometimes tasteful, wholly satirical and almost always bold (or exhaustively) dirty art erotica gaze, is a unique sui generis impressive mosaic. In contemporary mainstream light his male gaze burns in the hell of long-gone cine-patriarchy. But in this anthology of tales, he shows in all his hysterical brilliance a universe of frenzied, pagan insistence on the female body, but also a film that endures challenging adverse readings, which castigates institutions (the Church, of course), laughs at taboos (incest) and strikes out prudery, all in an organised delirium that can probably stand any dialectical critical penetration. I.D.

DIRECTOR: Walerian Borowczyk
SCREENWRITER: Walerian Borowczyk
DoP: Bernard Daillencourt, Guy Durban, Noël Véry, Walerian Borowczyk
MUSIC: Maurice Le Roux
EDITOR: Walerian Borowczyk
PRINCIPAL CAST: Lise Danvers, Paloma Picasso, Charlotte Alexandra, Fabrice Luchini, Florence Bellamy, Pascale Christophe

WALERIAN BOROWCZYK (1923-2006)
Polish filmmaker. He studied painting in Krakow, but turned to animation and short film, for which he gained artistic recognition. In the late ‘60s he moved to France and turned to feature films whereby he obtained the title of serial provocateur for the next 20 years of his career.

FILMOGRAPHY
1987 Love Rites
1987 Emmanuelle 5
1983 The Art of Love
1981 Dr. Jekyll and his Women
1980 Lulu
1979 Private Collections
1979 Immoral Women
1977 Behind Convent Walls
1976 The Margin
1975 The Story of Sin
1975 The Beast
1973 Immoral Tales
1972 Blanche
1969 Goto, Island of Love
1967 Mr. and Mrs. Kabal’s Theatre
1964 The Game of Angels
1964 Renaissance