The Beast/La Bęte (1975) - Walerian Borowczyk
Related: erotic movies - beauty and the beast trope - rape in fiction - 1975 films - Walerian Borowczyk - film - zoophilia
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The Beast (La bęte) (1975) - Walerian Borowczyk [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Description
Walerian Borowczyk is not a household word (unless you live in a halfway house), and it’s not likely The Beast, also known as The Beast in Heat, will make him one. This legendary film was banned in Britain on its release. What was the problem? Perhaps the literal horse dicks in the opening scene of a stallion mounting a mare? A pederastic old priest smooching with a nubile youth? A ravishing naked girl giving a very long blow job (in lurid closeup) to the title creature, a sort of giant rat-man? The film is a demented mix of the Marquis de Sade in its vitriolic anticlericalism and Beauty and the Beast in its quasi-zoophilia, but going much further than Cocteau. Borowyczyk was an equal-opportunity offender, obsessively recycling the image of horses screwing and the “beast” getting head. There’s also a black butler, a very un-p.c. fuckhound who says “yassuh.” (Penisspotters will appreciate the sight of his hard dick.) --Gary Morris, http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/43/stabs.htm [Feb 2004 | Nov 2004]
The Beast
Born in Poland Walerian Borowczyk is both known as a painter and a movie director. His first introduction to film was creating posters for Paris cinemas in the late 1950s, since then he has ,made over a dozen films, and has placed himself in a class by himself. Once a respected producer of fine art, he quickly became renown in the low brow community after releasing this film. This DVD has been a highly sought after film in the Borowczyk catalogue, and is considered by some to be "...the most controversial film of the decade". An insane adult reworking of 'The Beauty and the Beast' tale. Forbidden for over 25 years, its is only now finally available uncut in North America. This erotic fable was originally to be part of the Immoral Tales (1974) [Anchorbay Entertainment] anthology, yet was put aside due to it's controversial subject matter then later transformed into this film. Any arthouse crowd respect was probably lost within the first ten minutes of the film. The opening close-up of a horse's throbbing vagina gave me a bit of a shock, and I soon realized that I was in for a very interesting ride. The financially unstable son, Mathurin (Pierre Benedtti), and very rich, and horny Lucy Broadhurst (Lisbeth Hummel) are soon to be arranged in marriage at the failing Mathurin estate. The home is full of history relating to the families most famous ancestor, Romilda. Lucy immediately becomes fascinated with Romilda, and stumbles upon her diary. The tale is told of the day she was brutally attacked in the woods by a comical man / beast creature with a extra large penis. This scene is both shockingly powerful and hilariously funny all at once. Combining black humour, with graphic sexuality. "...And this beast, possessed of a giant phallus and an insatiable lust, set upon the beautiful young lady of the house. Two centuries later, the tale of the beast would return in the dreams of an American heiress contracted to carry the male descendant of the same crumbling artistocratic family and their secret..." Borowczyk's erotic masterpiece forbidden for many years is now available uncensored on DVD for the first time from Cult Epics. My mouth was left a gasp from beginning to end with this outrageous film, even without any extras it is well worth the purchase. Tony Crosgrey for amazon.com
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