A live-action fable of the Marquis de Sade (and his talking penis)'s time in the Bastille, in which every character has the head of an animal.
A true one-off, this extraordinary film is as deliriously obsessed with sex as its subject, hilariously explicit in every way and yet never (in my opinion) actually pornographic. The rubber animal faces, though remarkably expressive, cleverly make it impossible to forget what you are watching is only a fairy tale, a procession of symbols clashing in a marching philosophical fiesta.
It makes me wish more films had been made in this unique style, but it was the director, Henri Xhonneux's, last, and I don't think there's been anything even remotely like it ever since. Or before, for that matter.
A true one-off, this extraordinary film is as deliriously obsessed with sex as its subject, hilariously explicit in every way and yet never (in my opinion) actually pornographic. The rubber animal faces, though remarkably expressive, cleverly make it impossible to forget what you are watching is only a fairy tale, a procession of symbols clashing in a marching philosophical fiesta.
It makes me wish more films had been made in this unique style, but it was the director, Henri Xhonneux's, last, and I don't think there's been anything even remotely like it ever since. Or before, for that matter.