Story of Sin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Story of Sin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 31, 2017

The Polish film industry is sometimes curiously underappreciated even by cineastes with a global outlook. Sure, even many casual film fans can cite individual pieces by such renowned names as Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland and/or Andrzej Wajda, but as monolithic as the achievements of such titans are, there can sometimes still be a general lack of recognition as to how much Poland has contributed to international film. Perhaps no one sums up that kind of strange “ignorance” (for want of a better word) than Walerian Borowczyk, a director who was actually rather notorious at various points in his career but whose name for some reason doesn’t seem to resonate with the same force (at least for some) as some of his Polish filmmaking kin. While scandal and Polish directors are certainly no strangers (as evidenced by the protracted extradition battles still being encountered by Polanski for his long ago sexual improprieties with a minor), Borowczyk’s career seemed to be at times a virtually intentional poke in the eye of various Polish customs and traditions, not the least of which was the country’s Catholicism. Borowczyk, who notably pursued a lot of his career from the supposedly more liberal enclave of France, had an unusual career path by any standard. Initially thinking he might like to be a painter, Borowczyk studied at Kraków’s Academy of Fine Arts, quickly matriculating into film poster design kind of like a Polish Saul Bass. Perhaps that entré into the movie industry gave him the impetus to start making short films, many of which were incredibly fanciful and which later inspired such talents as Terry Gilliam. Borowczyk moved into feature length material a few years thereafter, beginning with a longer animated tale called Théâtre de Monsieur & Madame Kabal which featured characters Borowczyk had introduced in a previous short. This supposedly whimsical “cartoon” already showed signs of Borowczyk’s more provocative tendencies, however, tendencies that only increased in the 1970s with such fare as Immoral Tales and The Beast, two films which helped to earn Borowczyk a reputation as a kind of high- falutin’ peddler of smut. (Arrow UK has assembled a gaggle of fantastic Borowczyk offerings, including some of his early shorts, in Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection, which unfortunately has not been granted a domestic release. The fact that Olive is about to release Theatre of Mr. & Mrs. Kabal, included in the UK set, probably indicates that Arrow doesn’t have licensing rights for this region.) That proclivity would seem to be referenced overtly in the very title of Story of Sin, but while the film does have undeniably provocative elements, it’s actually a (relatively) reserved dissection of morality that pits a young woman named Ewa Pobratynska (Grazyna Dlugolecka) against both the vagaries of romantic fate as well as the societal strictures of 19th century Poland.

Boarders suddenly seem to be all the rage, what with recent or forthcoming Blu-ray releases like 20th Century Women and The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, and recent film festival favorites like Call Me By Your Name. Story of Sin hinges on a male boarder taking a room in the house where Ewa lives, but before the film gets to that plot point, it actually opens with Ewa (perhaps appropriately, given the film’s title) in confession, where her priest is warning against the sort of moral turpitude that priests always warn against. This opening vignette is instructive both in terms of the general zeitgeist of the era the film is portraying, but more specifically in how it clearly shows that Ewa is “good girl”, one who has supposedly been raised with a substantial moral compass.

Unfortunately a little animal magnetism sets that compass askew when a handsome young man named Lukasz Niepolomski (Jerzy Zelnik) rents a room in her house. There’s sexual tension from virtually the get go with this pair, when Lukasz notices Ewa has left her corset draped over a bedpost, despite the fact that Lukasz admits he's married but has come to the "big city" to try to arrange a divorce. If “true love” might be stretching things a bit, boundless passion wouldn’t be that far off, in just the first of several transgressions Ewa experiences. And it’s in this very laundry list of imbroglios where Borowczyk may overplay his hand, offering a litany of increasingly improbable if often disturbing events that push the film perilously close to melodrama.

Borowczyk offers some unabashedly provocative material including of course not just sexual dalliances galore but a certain kind of smarmy subtext at times that, if this were an opera (which it frankly often plays like it is), might be one in the “EuroTrash” tradition. That tends to chafe at times with the naturalistic presentational style which offers opulent production design and a seemingly accurate recreation of a historical epoch. Performances are good if perhaps not quite intense enough for material this overheated.

Story of Sin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Story of Sin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Arrow's typically informative booklet provides background on the transfer of the main feature as well as some of the shorts that are included as supplements:

Story of Sin was restored by Fixafilm for TOR Film Production. The film is presented in its original aspect ration of 1.66:1 with the original mono soundtrack. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pinless Lasergraphics Director using the 3-flash HDR mode.

The original mono soundtrack was transferred from the original re-recording 35mm magnetic tape.

Film grading and restoration was completed at Fixafilm, Warsaw at 2.5K resolution.

Flickering caused by chemical degradation of the negative was minimized. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools.

The soundtrack was restored to minimize hiss and similar noise issues to produce the best quality results possible.

Restoration supervised by Wojtek Janio (Fixafilm) and James White (Arrow) in cooperation with Daniel Bird (friend of Walerian Borowczyk).

This restoration has been approved by Grzegorz Kedzierski, an associate of director of photography Zygmunt Samosiuk.

Research into the production history of Story of Sin revealed that a defective camera used for part of filming resulted in a visible jitter during some parts of the film. This has been removed with the approval of Grzegorz Kedzierski and Daniel Bird.

The original materials were licensed and accessed through TOR Film Production, Poland.

Once Upon a Time, Dom and The School were restored on behalf of copyright owners KADR Film Studio and Miniatur Film Studio by Fixafilm.

The restorations were financed by Friends of Walerian Borowczyk and Fixafilm.

Once Upon a Time, Dom and The School were scanned at 4K resolution from the original camera negatives and digitally restored in 2K resolution.

The audio was sourced and restored from the optical negative by Dorota Nowocien of Ronin Group Studio, Poland.

Street Art has been remastered from an existing PAL telecine transfer of a positive print exclusively for this release by Friends of Walerian Borowczyk and Fixafilm.

The obviously extensive restoration efforts undertaken by Arrow have delivered elements that are virtually damage free, and any signs of a jittery camera were not evident to my eyes. I did still catch a hint of flicker here and there, especially when backgrounds were darker, but never to the point of being a distraction. Detail levels are generally very good, but Borowczyk uses his camera almost as an interloper or voyeur a lot of the time, shooting through items like fronds or having out of focus people wander in front of the action at times, two proclivities that can tend to tamp down detail levels. The film's palette seems just a tad on the drab side, with a kind of dowdy brown appearance, but in some outdoor scenes, things perk up noticeably (see screenshot 19). Grain resolves naturally and encounters no compression hurdles.

Story of Sin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Story of Sin features a workmanlike LPCM Mono track in the original Polish, one which supports this film's talkiness while also providing an able rendering of the Mendelssohn infused underscore. The film is not sonically very ambitious, tending to play out in parlor scenes often between two characters in various intimate encounters, and as such there probably isn't much opportunity for a "wow" factor, but Arrow's restoration has provided a clean, damage free listening experience.

Story of Sin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger.


• Introduction by Andrzej Klimowski (1080p; 8:22) features the Polish illustrator and author discussing Borowczyk in general and this film in particular.


• The First Sinner (1080p; 23:33) is a fascinating interview with Grazyna Dlugolecka, who evidently didn't exactly get along with Borowczyk during this shoot. In Polish with English subtitles.


• The Music Box (1080p; 19:00) features film critic David Thompson talking about Borowczyk's use of classical music in his films (in this case, it's Mendelssohn).


• Stories of Sin (1080p; 11:49) is another really interesting piece offering a visual essay by Borowczyk's friend Daniel Bird, who attempts to delve into some perhaps more psychological underpinnings of the director's works.


• Short Films and Miscellaneous

  Once Upon a Time (1080p; 9:11) is a really cool animated short by Borowczyk featuring cutouts. An optional commentary by art historian Szymon Bojko hosted by Daniel Bird.

  Dom (1080p; 11:27) is another innovative animated short with an optional commentary by composer Wlodzimierz Kotonski (in Polish with English subtitles).

  The School (1080p; 7:24) utilizes photographs to tell the story of a soldier retreating to daydreams during basic training. An optional commentary featuring Daniel Bird is available.

  Miscellaneous (1080p; 7:06) is a video essay looking at the contributions Borowczyk and collaborator Lenica made to newsreels and documentaries.

  Street Art (1080p; 11:34) is a short written by Borowczyk about posters.

  Tools of the Trade (1080p; 6:24) features Julius Zamecznik demonstrating some of the equipment Borowczyk and Lenica used to make Once Upon a Time.

  Poster Girl (1080p; 4:05) offers an interview with Dom cast member and artist Teresa Byszewska.

• Trailer (1080p; 2:11)

Arrow's typically well appointed booklet rounds out the supplements.

Story of Sin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a newcomer to the wild and wooly world of Borowczyk, I'm frankly not sure I'd begin getting to know the director with this particular film. Some of his earlier animated efforts are so whimsical and winning that they probably provide a more accessible first encounter. That said, many of Borowczyk's overriding themes are certainly on display in Story of Sin, though the film is probably too protracted and often too hyperbolically melodramatic, the latter tendency especially leading to a kind of tonal collision with an otherwise fairly naturalistic presentational style. One way or the other, though, Arrow has once again done a remarkable job in restoration, and as usual this release is jam packed with excellent supplements. Recommended.