Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

What? Blu-ray Movie Review

You can say that again.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 27, 2017

If you hang around the hallowed halls of Hollywood long enough (“long enough” being probably about a nanosecond in this particular instance), you’re apt to hear someone somewhere profess that famous La La Land adage, “But what I really want to do is direct.” Perhaps ironically, one of the film industry’s most famous (some might argue notorious) directors, Roman Polanski, seems to follow a different maxim, namely, “What I really want to do is act”, at least as evidenced by some supposed thespian proclivities he’s put on display through the years, often (but not exclusively) in films he himself is directing. Polanski has had at least cameos (and at times much more featured roles) in a variety of his own outings, including in Knife in the Water, Repulsion, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Chinatown, and The Tenant, and he’s on hand again in an uncredited role as the whimsically named Mosquito in one of his strangest efforts, the 1972 quasi-farce What?. This is one film whose title might be thought of by some as absolute truth in advertising, for its supposed reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s immortal Alice in Wonderland is a crazy quilt of frankly bizarre vignettes, all suffused with an unapologetic sexuality that threatens to fairly burst through the screen at regular intervals. (While several sources, both contemporary and after the fact, link the film to the Carroll story, it's probably important to note that the connection is tangential at best, and there's no credit given to Carroll in the film's credits, meaning any perceived tether is at least debatable.)

Carroll’s immortal tale has provided source material for any number of cinematic adaptations through the years. Aside from the Walt Disney animated effort linked above, there have also been the live action Disney extravaganza Alice in Wonderland, an early talkie Alice in Wonderland featuring Cary Grant and W.C. Fields, a softcore porn enterprise (with music!) called Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy, a really interesting Czech film called Alice, a middling SyFy reboot bearing the same name of Alice, and a rather opulent (non porn, it should be added) musical from 1972 featuring a melodic score from John Barry, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This by no means complete list at least suggests how disparate various adaptive sensibilities have been over the course of several decades, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more patently gonzo take on Carroll’s materia, if that's what in fact this film is offering,l than that offered by Polanski in this uneven and frankly pretty chaotic affair. It’s perhaps salient to note that some online sources credit the film’s title as coming from producer Carlo Ponti, who responded to an initial screening of the film with this piquant response.

What? begins with a frankly disturbing scene documenting the near rape of Nancy (Sydne Rome) by a trio of Italian ne’er-do-wells who have evidently picked her up hitchhiking. The fact that Polanski stages this event with a mixture of both horror and (in what may find off putting) comedy suggests from the get go that What?’s tone is not exactly going to be “traditional” in any sense, and that is certainly the case as the film proceeds. Nancy escapes her tormentors, finding a bizarre hanging mini-gondola type elevator that takes her down a veritable rabbit hole to a secluded villa. She initially is unable to find anyone who speaks English, and she is in fact very much like Alice in Carroll’s tale, exiled to a strange land where she’s unable to communicate effectively with any of the “creatures” she finds.

Those creatures include Alex (Marcello Mastroianni), a former pimp who (shall we say) likes to cosplay for foreplay, Joseph Noblart (Hugh Griffith), an aging entrepreneur with his own kinks (everyone in this film has kinks), and the aforementioned Mosquito, a guy with a serious black eye who brags about his “stinger”, reprimanding Nancy when she thinks he’s referring to something sexual (which he may be in addition to his actual reference, which is to a harpoon gun). The entire film is built out of off the wall interchanges between these, and several other, characters, in a loose vignette laden structure that was reportedly improvised at least in part.

The film is never less than scenic, courtesy not just of its incredibly gorgeous Italian locale, but also because Rome (and several other females) traipse through the film largely nude (a long section of the opening segments details Nancy’s attempts to find a shirt). It would probably be stretching things to say that anything makes much sense in What?, and it also is fairly undeniable that the lack of structure is intentional, which is not to say it’s always enjoyable. With a filmmaker of Polanski’s skill, there’s a foundational excellence that supports even freewheeling attempts like this, and the film is filled with outré moments that some may find at least passingly amusing. But chances are many viewers are going to be left asking the same question as producer Ponti did when he first saw the film, perhaps followed by two more words which are sometimes abbreviated with the letters TF.

Note: Svet reviewed the British release of the film and was considerably more enchanted with it than I was.

What? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

What? is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2:35:1. This appears to be identical with the release Severin brought out in the UK which Svet covered in his What? Blu- ray review. This generally a nice looking if occasionally problematic transfer. Things are a little dodgy in the very opening moments, some of which is due to the opticals of the credits sequence, but once the film transitions to brightly lit daylight sequences, the palette is vivid and natural looking and detail levels are generally excellent. A later sequence bathed in deep cobalt blues has a few deficits in fine detail, but nothing overly concerning. Grain is a little ungainly looking at times, and as Svet noted in his review of the UK release, density is slightly variable.

What? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

What? defaults to an English LPCM 2.0 track, but an Italian LPCM 2.0 track is also available. Both tracks show signs of ubiquitous post looping, meaning sync can be slightly loose at times. Fidelity is generally fine, though highs sounded a bit brittle to my ears, especially with regard to some of the classical orchestral source cues. As Svet noted in his review of the UK release, subtitles would have been welcome given the prevalence of thick accents in the English language version.

What? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Featurette: Sydne in Wonderland - Interview with Star Sydne Rome (480i; 16:44) is an affable sit down with the loquacious actress, who discusses how she got the part and the shoot.


• Featurette: Memories of a Young Pianist - Interview with Composer Claudio Gizzi (480i; 21:49) is a nice in depth piece with Gizzi discussing not just his own contributions but the use of several other classical composers. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Featurette: A Surreal Pop Movie - Interview with Cinematographer Marcello Gatti (480i; 16:03) has some interesting tidbits about what Polanski is like to work with. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Theatrical Trailer (480p; 1:55)


• What? Feature - Italian Soundtrack is listed here instead of under an Audio setup menu.

What? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What? just never quite hit the comedic sweet spot for me, seeming to be too frenetic for its own good, and filled with the sort of visual non sequiturs one might expect from a Buñuel film, without any of Buñuel's piquant social commentary. The film is undeniably ribald, which may in fact recommend it to some, but it's also pretty chaotic, meaning any titillation is transitory at best. Severin's release offers generally very good technical merits and some fun supplements.