6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Walerian Borowczyk's first explicitly erotic feature, IMMORAL TALES presents a veritable cavalcade of depravity: cosmic fellatio, transcendental masturbation, blood-drenched lesbianism and papal incest. It tells four stories, each delving further back in time, as if to suggest that the same issues recur constantly throughout human civilisation, whether involving notorious historical figures like Lucrezia Borgia and Erzsébet Báthory, or present-day teenagers.
Starring: Paloma Picasso, Lise Danvers, Fabrice Luchini, Charlotte Alexandra, Pascale ChristopheForeign | 100% |
Drama | 49% |
Erotic | 25% |
Romance | 5% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Potter Stewart entered the lexicon of unforgettable phrases when, in reviewing a case about pornography that came (no pun intended) before the Supreme Court, the Justice famously intoned, "I know it [i.e., pornography] when I see it". It might have been interesting to see Stewart's take on Walerian Borowczyk's Immoral Tales, which serves as both a kind of precursor and companion piece to The Beast, which Arrow brought out in tandem with this re-release. In fact, one of the segments in Immoral Tales, a film whose very title may hint at its status as a kind of portmanteau, was actually excised from this film and became the genesis for an expanded version seen in The Beast. And if Justice Stewart were to find Immoral Tales "questionable" in terms of being pornography, it would probably be the vignette built around a treatment of the Beauty and the Beast folktale, though anyone expecting either Jean Cocteau's lyricism or Disney's sweetness and light (Lumiere?) may be downright shocked by depictions of beastly, um, excitement that are unabashedly graphic. The Beast was removed from Immoral Tales after it caused something of an uproar, and so this disc offers two versions of the film, one with four sections which was screened theatrically, and the original five part escapade which includes a very amorous beast having his way with a damsel, if not exactly in "distress" then at least occasionally, um, surprised by what happens.
Immoral Tales is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. This is the rare Arrow release that I've handled that doesn't include an insert booklet with information on the transfer, and so only the "new high definition digital transfers for two versions of the feature" comment on this release's back cover will have to suffice as ostensible "technical data". As has so often been my mantra through the years, "different reviewers means different opinions", and so I'm scoring this just slightly lower than Svet did in his Immoral Tales Blu-ray review from 2015. Both of the bookending sequences, The Tide and Lucrezia Borgia, looked the best (by far at times) to my eyes, and Svet mentions the vibrancy of Lucrezia Borgia in particular. The palette is much more nicely suffused in these sequences than in Therčse Philosophe in particular, which suffers a pretty noticeable downgrade in image quality (see screenshot 19 for just one example). That segment suffers from a curiously blanched palette, to the point things are almost devoid of color, and a diminution of detail. It seems a bit curious to me that it would be this segment, which appears in both versions, rather than The Beast, which was (per the above) excised, that would exhibit this kind of variance, but that said, The Beast also doesn't quite match the nicely suffused and generally well detailed look of The Tide and Lucrezia Borgia (see screenshot 4). Grain can be quite heavy at times, as can probably be made out in several of the screenshots (see the sky in screenshot 9 for an example), but resolves without any major issues. There's occasional minor age related wear and tear that can be spotted.
Immoral Tales features an expressive LPCM Mono track (mostly) in French, and while dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout under a rather wide array of filming conditions, for Early Music lovers like yours truly, it may be the use of some of Guillaume de Machaut's memorable "tunes" that provides some of the most consistent interest. There's some surprising depth to some of the sound design, particularly in The Tide, but all of the segments provide good clarity and no issues with regard to damage. Optional English subtitles are available.
I actually liked the four other segments in Immoral Tales significantly more than either The Beast (as it is in the L'age d'or Cut included on this disc) or The Beast. There's a curious poetry to Borowczyk's vision that is unabashedly intelligent and at times darkly humorous, but which still "goes for the gusto" in terms of both sexual content and imagery. The result is most definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but Arrow provides a release with generally secure technical merits and excellent supplements. For the brave (and/or foolhardy, as the case may be) at least, Recommended.
La bęte
1975
Goto, l'île d'amour
1969
1971
Dzieje grzechu
1975
2016
El Club
2015
Les Salauds / Slipcover in Original Pressing
2013
Gouttes d'eau Sur Pierres Brűlantes
2000
Les amants
1958
1974
Derek Jarman
1976
1977
Herr Tartüff
1925
恋の罪 / Koi no tsumi
2011
2017
Pájaros de verano
2018
2015
1999
Der siebente Kontinent
1989
1976