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THE BEASTWALERIAN BOROWCZYKBy 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. La Bête (a.k.a. The Beast, The Beast in Heat and Death’s Ecstasy, 1975) was Walerian Borowczyk’s most controversial film, a mixture of French farce, surrealism, and a lot of sex (including bestiality). The story of La Bête involves an American heiress Lucy Broadhurst (Lisbeth Hummel) being brought to a French chateau with her aunt Virginia (Elisabeth Kaza) by the scheming owners (in particular the marquis, Pierre de l’Esperance [played by Guy Tréjan]), who need to marry her to the earthy, degenerate (and somewhat backward) son of the family Mathurin (Pierre Benedetti) in order to circumvent a will which’ll keep the family home intact. That’s the framing story, about grasping aristocrats, decadent morality, degenerate priests and sexually repressed young women. This part of the film’s set in the 20th century, though it’s not the conventional modern, urban world of most movies. La Bête takes place exclusively at the French chateau and its grounds (the film is in French, but there is English dialogue - Virginia, Lucy and their chauffeur speak English). The appendices include a note on fairy tales, and on other versions of Beauty and the Beast (including the Jean Cocteau movie, and the 1991 Walt Disney musical movie). This 3rd edition has been expanded and revised. Hardcover with a colour laminated cover. Fully illustrated, with over 120 stills from The Beast, and Walerian Borowczyk’s movies, plus influences, a bibliography, filmography, appendices, quotes from Borowczyk and notes. 290pp. www.crmoon.com
