Contos Imorais

Okay, okay... 1974. The Europeans have figured out that a world-wide audience exists for films that portray full-frontal nudity, regardless of storyline or context. Borowczyk has chosen four stories from four eras to flaunt some skin... the 1970s right back to the 1400s. He takes the cake, however, with the third segment, featuring Pablo's daughter Paloma Picasso: she plays a countess in the 1700s bent on preserving her youth and vitality by bathing in the blood of virgins. To get this far, we are treated to the most incredible series of visuals ever filmed! At least thirty young, beautiful, and (gasp!) very naked women are brought forward to shower, cavort, pray, play with each other, and perform some sort of ritual that leads to their demise. You will watch the whole film, but you will come away remembering only this third segment. All the nudity aside, credit Borowczyk and crew for doing a fine job technically and photographically on this film. Definitely worth seeing.

Walerian Borowczyk is best known for his 1975 sleaze flick 'The Beast', and with that film in mind; I don't think I was unjustified going into this one expecting some bizarre pornography. However, it turns out that isn't what this film is at all; it's actually 'erotica', which is unfortunately not so interesting. Sure there's plenty of hot female nudity, but it's all really slow and barely erotic in the slightest. As the title suggests, this film depicts 'tales' which are immoral; and there are four in total. The first is very simple but nicely put together. We follow a pair of cousins stuck on a beach together by the tide. The older and more sexually experienced of the pair sees it as an opportunity to teach the younger a thing or two. This story is not particularly impressive on the substance front; it's very short and not a lot happens, but it is really beautifully shot and anyone that appreciates good looking cinema will surely find something to like about it.

I figured the first tale would be just a taster since it is so short, but unfortunately things go downhill from there and the second tale is the worst of the four. It takes on a period setting and basically just follows a young woman locked in her bedroom. Again, the cinematography is nice (though none of the locations are anything like as good as the beach in tale one) but the tale itself drags on too long to approaching anything like what I would call 'erotica'. The film is slightly redeemed by tale number three; which is by far the best of the bunch. Elizabeth Bathory has featured in cinema a few times; though not often enough. This tale again is slow and beautiful but the story actually holds some interest and Paloma Picasso's perfect naked figure emerging from a bath is blood is likely to be the only thing I will go on to remember about this film. I figured that if the fourth tale could match the third then the film would be a success overall; but unfortunately it's a turgid affair and doesn't compliment the penultimate story as well as I'd hoped. Split into four we have one good story, one decent one and two weak ones...not enough to recommend the film for unfortunately.

Art or pornography? Well, if it's pornography certainly no pornographer in cinema as come as close to art as Borowczyk does here. The five "Immoral Tales" that make up this movie deal exclusively with sex in its various forms with a great emphasis on female nudity. Borowczyk deals with an almost fetishistic relish on the woman's body while almost totally ignoring the man's. With the exception of the first story, 'The Tide', the others are all taken from history or the past. We get St. Therese, she who was raped rather than give up her virginity; Elisabeth Bathory, she who liked to bathe, so they say, in the blood of virgins and Lucrezia Borgia, who apparently liked it whatever way she could get it. We also get a mini version of what became "The Beast" whose engorged phallus is one of the very few 'male' organs we see.

Visually the film's palette changes to suit the story at hand and this is very much a sex movie for the intelligentsia, which isn't to say that the 'dirty mac' brigade won't have a field day as well. Of course, since "Immoral Tales" first appeared movies have become a lot more sexually explicit and yet I happy to say this is a movie that can still provoke outrage today...of one kind or another.

I had the opportunity to review this film when it was released on DVD about 9-10 years ago. Although the IMDb was in its infancy at the time, I read about the film before reviewing it. I found this to be an interesting guide to morals and values.

Walerian Borowczyk is one of Europe's most controversial filmmakers. I had heard that Immoral Tales, the English title of Contes Immoraux or Unmoralische Geschichten, was not too much different than most of his other work. Borowczyk has also directed many sexually themed movies, including two parts of the erotically charged Emmanuelle series.

Bordering on the thin line between hardcore and soft-core pornography, Immoral Tales is a film that leaves you guilty and shocked. Not many films include two forms of incest, masturbation with a vegetable, the killing of naked virgins for their blood, and sex at the Vatican. Interestingly enough, the last two parts of the movie are supposedly true! It is extremely hard to put a film like Immoral Tales into words. Shocking in some spots, yet artistically titillating in others, the movie is paced too slowly in spots. This could be Polish director's Walerian Borowczyk's preferred style, but the film drags on and on with excess. I was able to get over the two cousins having sex in the first act, but the English translation certainly could have been better worded. Eight minutes of a young girl doing odd things with a cucumber after reading the bible is just a little more than I needed to see.

Even so, this film is a delight for anyone who has considered himself or herself voyeuristic. When the viewer sees over twenty underage naked teenage girls running around (Erzsébet Bathory)... Let's just say it is hard to describe. Lucrezia Borgia is almost ceremonious at times, and shows the baptism of Lucrezia's incestuous child. Unfortunately, some of the shots are gratuitous at best, and although this film can be great in spots, it fails in others.

Definitely worth seeing, but certainly for those who are open minded and don't mind the various actions that happen on screen. Although I rated it lower when originally reviewing it, I rate it higher after multiple viewings.

In the spirit of "I'll try anything once", I watched my first Walerian Borowczyk film; it is also probably going to be my last. His brand of pseudo-arty, antiseptic, plotless soft-core porn is totally not my cup of tea (besides, we already have Jess Franco for that). The first story is the best, because it's at least the most honest; the worst is probably the third, in which the shower scenes go on for what seems like three centuries. * out of 4.