Le grand cérémonial

Be warned !It's an experimental movie and it may put off a lot of viewers after the first fifteen minutes :the subject was not that much new:it was the over-possessive mother , who lost her husband and loves her son so much that she won't let him get married ,a subject which was often in Hitchcock's movies or in Tennessee Williams ' plays ;but these great artists were accessible ,Arabal 's works much less so ("l'arbre de Guernica (1975) was more palatable though).

Much to the viewer's surprise ,this super-momma is played by Ginette Leclerc ,the bad girl of many a movie in the golden age:Clouzot's "le corbeau" ;Pagnol's 'la femme du boulanger" .

But the film itself is a big bore in my book : bombastic music ,heavenly choirs ,even rock music do not help ; completely devoid of humor (one thinks of what Bunuel would have done with this subject ), repetitive, mediocre performances (Leclerc had seen better days) : this boy turned serial killer (or did he?) who carried would be dead bodies in a bag meets le grand amour, a long -haired girl who has a lover who gets in the way ,and who enjoys being beaten,should we believe the screenwriters: masochism, fetishism, bondage ,sadism ,even hints at a menage à trois with momma ,you name it......

Watch it at your own risk.