IMMORAL TALES

IMMORAL TALESWALERIAN BOROWCZYKPOCKET MOVIE GUIDEBy Jeremy RobinsonWalerian Borowczyk (1923-2006) is one of cinema’s great talents. Quite simply, there is no filmmaker quite like ’Boro’. Borowczyk’s films have an astonishing, magical quality. They reach a place very rare in contemporary cinema, and are quite unlike the films of any other auteur. Borowczyk’s films create their own space, with imagery, sounds and music of a really exceptional power. Immoral Tales (Contes Immoraux, 1974) is a masterpiece. Made in French, it was a collection of four erotic stories: La Marée (The Tide), based on a story by Walerian Borowczyk’s friend André Pieyre de Mandiargues (from Mascarets, published by Gallimard); Thérèse Philosophe, about a young woman locked up in a room who finds escape in masturbation; Erzsébet Báthory, about the original ’Countess Dracula’; and Lucrezia Borgia, a story of the decadent, Italian Renaissance dynasty of the Borgias. Immoral Tales is the first of the movies helmed by Walerian Borowczyk that contain a lot of erotic scenes. After Immoral Tales, Borowczyk would be associated with arty erotica. Immoral Tales came about when producer Anatole Dauman asked Boro for some short films with an erotic element to put together as an anthology (several of Dauman’s films had a sexual ingredient - The Tin Drum, In the Realm of the Senses, Fruits of Passion, etc). Boro would later contribute to the anthology TV series Série Rose in the late Eighties. Immoral Tales travelled back in time: the first story, La Marée (The Tide), was set in the present, the following stories moved back to the late 19th century (1890), to 1610 for ’Countess Dracula’, and finally to Renaissance times with the Borgias (to 1498). The first episode was set in Northern France. The second film was also set in rural France. The third film, about ’Countess Dracula’, moved to Eastern Europe, and the final movie to late fifteenth century Italy. Fully illustrated, with over 150 stills from Immoral Tales, and Walerian Borowczyk’s other movies, plus a bibliography, filmography, appendices, quotes from Borowczyk and notes. 252pp. Hardcover with a colour laminated cover. Adults only. www.crmoon.com