Docteur Jekyll et les femmes

Doctor Jekyll is a rather different version than most adaptations of the Jekyll & Hide story. Its emphasis lies on sex, this time. Jekyll changes into a rather beastly kind of lover/murderer who seduces, haunts and kills all the people gathered in the house for a party. Although the story is well known, this change of direction makes it very interesting to watch. The photography is rather special, with light almost bursting of the screen. The only negative thing I found was the English dubbing which is done very badly. Try to find the original version if you can. Udo Kier and Patrick Magee are very amusing to watch.

This film is, as the other reviewers said, rather like watching a dream. It is interesting to note the subtle changes this film makes on the usual Jekyll/Hyde movie formula: Udo Kier's Dr. Jekyll is not really a benefactor of humanity, but a man who revels in being able to commit horrendous crimes in the guise of his alter ego - actually moving the story closer to R. L. Stevenson's original idea. He preaches a philosophy of going beyond good and evil through science.

Likewise, Hyde commits actually repellent crimes of rape, child abuse, and sadism - making him closer to the idea of "unchained evil" than the more genteel transgressions of other movie Hydes.

Overall - a memorable, beautiful, shocking, film. Well worth seeing.

I liked this movie, it's a cinematic paradox, it kept my attention and i couldn't take my eyes off it. Just like watching a car accident as you pass the accident scene, you know it's not gonna be pretty, you know the things you'll see might haunt you but you still watch. I can't say it's exactly like that, i mean, it's not that unbearable to watch, there is a dark comedy relief here and the movie doesn't take itself too seriously. But still, this is sick and twisted and perverse.

Edward Hyde's Freudian "id" (the primitive, basic, and fully unconscious part of personality) is here more obvious than ever. This movie took it to the extreme, however it captures perfectly its essence. Did it need to be that graphic ? I don't know for sure. In any case, there is zero eroticism here. You can call this movie raw, graphic, sick, even cerebral. But not erotic.

Proceed at your own risk. I'd be a liar though if i say i didn't like it.

A strange and dream-like interpretation of the Jekyll and Hyde story that brings out the themes of sexual fantasy and violence. It's several years since I saw it, but there are still scenes that stick in the mind, like memories of a disturbing nightmare.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981)

** (out of 4)

Walerian Borowczyk's wild, over-the-top sexual fever nightmare has Dr. Jekyll (Udo Kier) and Miss Osbourne (Marina Pierro) having an engagement party but soon the entire thing leads to a disaster when a sexual predator shows up.

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE isn't the first version of the Jekyll and Hyde story to feature a sexual slant. This film is something that many consider a masterpiece but I'm not going to share that much praise. It's becoming rather clear that I respect Borowczyk a lot more than I actually enjoy his films. This movie here is very slow moving but it's beautiful to look at. It doesn't have anything we haven't seen before yet it has moments that are strong enough to hold your attention.

The biggest issue with this film is the fact that I simply see it as a fake. Porn, art and horror can go together and several directors have done it. Jess Franco and Jean Rollin immediately come to mind and I think both of them didn't try to hide behind any one genre and they would just jump into the material and go for it. I'm not sure why but it always seemed to me that Borowczyk didn't ever go in full steam. I mean, both this film and THE BEAST took familiar stories, added a touch of sex but I wouldn't say either went to the extreme of what they could have.

We basically have a rapist running around the party and, like in THE BEAST, we see an erect penis. Was this meant to be shocking? I guess for some it would have been but to me it was just a silly sequence and nothing that happened was all that shocking. It was well-made and there's no question that the film has a surreal atmosphere and a beautiful image but on the whole there's very little story and it's overly boring. Both Kier and Pierro are good as are the supporting players including Howard Vernon.