Walerian Borowczyk Double Bill: The Beast & Dr Jekyll Et Les Femmes
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Sun 3 February 2008 // 19:00
(Sun 3rd / 7pm & 9pm / Cert 18 / £5)
A true original, Walerian Borowczyk died quietly of heart failure in Paris two years ago today. At one point considered one of the worlds most talented animators and surrealist visionaries, the Polish born Borowczyk slowly alienated himself from critical acclaim across the latter part of his career by choosing to follow his own path, concentrating his efforts and talents into erotic works that confounded audiences and critics alike.
All too frequently reviled, misunderstood, hacked about by distributors, censors and producers alike, Borowczyk’s work manages to survive through testimony to his unique vision, straddling the lines between Art, Erotica and Pornography like no other. Tonight the Cube pays tribute to his talent with a double bill pairing perhaps his best known work with possibly his darkest and weirdest, not to mention least seen in its uncut form.
The Beast / La Bête (1975)
Initially shorn of six minutes upon its controversial arrival in the UK (following a legendary appearance at the London Film Festival), Borowczyk’s most notorious film veers between Bunuelesque farce and bizarre bestial fantasy, and even today remains a unique cinematic experience. Following a dysfunctional family of oddballs intent on maintaining a sense of normalcy whilst trying to marry off their brutish son, Mathurin, to young English rose Lucy Broadhurst. Upon arrival in the house however, Lucy begins to curiously uncover the story behind family's most infamous ancestor, Romilda, whose torn corset now hangs encased in glass in the drawing room...
Docteur Jekyll et les Femmes (1981)
Hacked to pieces upon completion after disputes with the producer, and rarely seen since, this dark and dreamy adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story depicts Hyde as a willing predator; stalking the repressed Victorian household and throwing off the shackles of decency imposed by the stifling family and professional values with vicious and murderous glee. With a whole host of great character actors (Udo Kier, Patrick Magee and Howard Vernon) and a delirious, tense atmosphere of perverse cruelty and fetishistic mania, Borowczyk’s Jekyll is an adaptation like no other.
A true original, Walerian Borowczyk died quietly of heart failure in Paris two years ago today. At one point considered one of the worlds most talented animators and surrealist visionaries, the Polish born Borowczyk slowly alienated himself from critical acclaim across the latter part of his career by choosing to follow his own path, concentrating his efforts and talents into erotic works that confounded audiences and critics alike.
All too frequently reviled, misunderstood, hacked about by distributors, censors and producers alike, Borowczyk’s work manages to survive through testimony to his unique vision, straddling the lines between Art, Erotica and Pornography like no other. Tonight the Cube pays tribute to his talent with a double bill pairing perhaps his best known work with possibly his darkest and weirdest, not to mention least seen in its uncut form.
The Beast / La Bête (1975)
Initially shorn of six minutes upon its controversial arrival in the UK (following a legendary appearance at the London Film Festival), Borowczyk’s most notorious film veers between Bunuelesque farce and bizarre bestial fantasy, and even today remains a unique cinematic experience. Following a dysfunctional family of oddballs intent on maintaining a sense of normalcy whilst trying to marry off their brutish son, Mathurin, to young English rose Lucy Broadhurst. Upon arrival in the house however, Lucy begins to curiously uncover the story behind family's most infamous ancestor, Romilda, whose torn corset now hangs encased in glass in the drawing room...
Docteur Jekyll et les Femmes (1981)
Hacked to pieces upon completion after disputes with the producer, and rarely seen since, this dark and dreamy adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story depicts Hyde as a willing predator; stalking the repressed Victorian household and throwing off the shackles of decency imposed by the stifling family and professional values with vicious and murderous glee. With a whole host of great character actors (Udo Kier, Patrick Magee and Howard Vernon) and a delirious, tense atmosphere of perverse cruelty and fetishistic mania, Borowczyk’s Jekyll is an adaptation like no other.