lunatic
02-08-2006, 04:22 PM
FROM FANGORIA.COM:
Walerian Borowczyk, one of the most unique contributors to the pantheon of erotic Eurohorror, died Friday, February 3 of congestive heart failure. My introduction to his work was in the form of a gauzy black-and-white photo and an oblique parenthetical description of DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE (1981) in the legendary (and error-riddled) softcover first edition of the Phil Hardy-edited OVERLOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORROR MOVIES. The photo showed a woman¨ˆs screaming face and splayed hands pressed up against some kind of diaphanous material that gave the impression of a photo that had been printed on burlap. It was an image rich with textural sensations, and I was immediately transfixed. Sadly, the accompanying paragraph describing the film itself was mostly damnation with faint (but intrigued) praise.
Years later, by sheer coincidence, I ran across the film listed in the Laser Paradise catalog. I knew nothing at all about the film except for the cast listing, that single image emblazoned upon my brain¡Öand that no matter what language it was in, I should be able to at least figure out the basics of the story, as it must have something to do with Robert Louis Stevenson¨ˆs immortal creation. So I decided to drop $100 on a laserdisc that would be in French without English subtitles. Man, it was good to be young with disposable income in those days. And wouldn¨ˆt you know it: That same image of the face pressed up against the fabric was on the disc cover as well. When I first watched the film, I was absolutely hypnotized by what quickly became my favorite reinterpretation of the Dr. Jekyll story.
It contained, as I would later discover, many of the key visual elements of almost all of Borowczyk¨ˆs films¡Öfirst and foremost, a tendency toward an editing scheme that treated people as secondary to the environments and objects surrounding them. When I met Udo Kier for the first time, all I did was bombard him with questions about DR. JEKYLL, and he confirmed that the director spent more time lighting and composing a close-up of an antique fountain pen then in giving him any specific direction. Another instantly unique stylistic branding of the material was Borowczyk¨ˆs juxtaposition of selective soft-lighting techniques with freewheeling handheld camerawork that imposed an almost documentarian intensity onto lighting straight out of a Vermeer painting. It was an uncomfortable but fascinating and committed blend of disparate stylings.
Born September 2, 1923 in Kwilcz, Poland, Borowczyk began his film career with a series of highly regarded short animations using almost every imaginable technique: photo-montage, three-dimensional objects and even conventional hand-drawn artwork. Although his earliest works date back to 1947, it wasn¨ˆt until the late 1950s that his films began to achieve notoriety for their dark humor and absurd surrealism. Along the way, he collaborated with fellow animation great Jan Lenica and another great director, Chris Marker (best known for LA JETE§Ú, the film upon which Terry Gilliam¨ˆs TWELVE MONKEYS was based).
The 1970s and 1980s were a busy period for Borowczyk, who turned out one erotically charged genre picture after another, beginning with IMMORAL TALES (1974), an anthology that includes a most memorable depiction of the blood-bathing habits of Elizabeth Bathory (played by Paloma Picasso). His still controversial LA BETE (1975) is the final word on all Beauty-and-the-Beast stories for adults, and was followed by the erotically overripe nunspoitation classic BEHIND CONVENT WALLS (1977). The aforementioned DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE (1981) features the most poetically startling yet simple onscreen transformation of Jekyll into Hyde that film has ever offered, involving a marble bathtub full of blood-red formula, a dirty mirrored wall behind the tub and Kier immersing himself for an uncomfortably long time before re-emerging as©¼
It should be sadly noted that Borowczyk¨ˆs last listed directing credit is for an episode of a 1990 television series called SERIE ROSE, meaning that for the last 16 years, his unique cinematic voice was uncalled upon. One of cinema¨ˆs great one-of-a-kind artists was too long missing in action, and is now forever gone from a withering landscape of diminishing filmic returns.
In recent years, many of these movies have finally been unleashed by various brave DVD companies around the world, and one can only hope that some of the other, more difficult-to-obtain titles will soon become available so people can discover what they¨ˆve been missing.
Walerian Borowczyk, one of the most unique contributors to the pantheon of erotic Eurohorror, died Friday, February 3 of congestive heart failure. My introduction to his work was in the form of a gauzy black-and-white photo and an oblique parenthetical description of DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE (1981) in the legendary (and error-riddled) softcover first edition of the Phil Hardy-edited OVERLOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORROR MOVIES. The photo showed a woman¨ˆs screaming face and splayed hands pressed up against some kind of diaphanous material that gave the impression of a photo that had been printed on burlap. It was an image rich with textural sensations, and I was immediately transfixed. Sadly, the accompanying paragraph describing the film itself was mostly damnation with faint (but intrigued) praise.
Years later, by sheer coincidence, I ran across the film listed in the Laser Paradise catalog. I knew nothing at all about the film except for the cast listing, that single image emblazoned upon my brain¡Öand that no matter what language it was in, I should be able to at least figure out the basics of the story, as it must have something to do with Robert Louis Stevenson¨ˆs immortal creation. So I decided to drop $100 on a laserdisc that would be in French without English subtitles. Man, it was good to be young with disposable income in those days. And wouldn¨ˆt you know it: That same image of the face pressed up against the fabric was on the disc cover as well. When I first watched the film, I was absolutely hypnotized by what quickly became my favorite reinterpretation of the Dr. Jekyll story.
It contained, as I would later discover, many of the key visual elements of almost all of Borowczyk¨ˆs films¡Öfirst and foremost, a tendency toward an editing scheme that treated people as secondary to the environments and objects surrounding them. When I met Udo Kier for the first time, all I did was bombard him with questions about DR. JEKYLL, and he confirmed that the director spent more time lighting and composing a close-up of an antique fountain pen then in giving him any specific direction. Another instantly unique stylistic branding of the material was Borowczyk¨ˆs juxtaposition of selective soft-lighting techniques with freewheeling handheld camerawork that imposed an almost documentarian intensity onto lighting straight out of a Vermeer painting. It was an uncomfortable but fascinating and committed blend of disparate stylings.
Born September 2, 1923 in Kwilcz, Poland, Borowczyk began his film career with a series of highly regarded short animations using almost every imaginable technique: photo-montage, three-dimensional objects and even conventional hand-drawn artwork. Although his earliest works date back to 1947, it wasn¨ˆt until the late 1950s that his films began to achieve notoriety for their dark humor and absurd surrealism. Along the way, he collaborated with fellow animation great Jan Lenica and another great director, Chris Marker (best known for LA JETE§Ú, the film upon which Terry Gilliam¨ˆs TWELVE MONKEYS was based).
The 1970s and 1980s were a busy period for Borowczyk, who turned out one erotically charged genre picture after another, beginning with IMMORAL TALES (1974), an anthology that includes a most memorable depiction of the blood-bathing habits of Elizabeth Bathory (played by Paloma Picasso). His still controversial LA BETE (1975) is the final word on all Beauty-and-the-Beast stories for adults, and was followed by the erotically overripe nunspoitation classic BEHIND CONVENT WALLS (1977). The aforementioned DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE (1981) features the most poetically startling yet simple onscreen transformation of Jekyll into Hyde that film has ever offered, involving a marble bathtub full of blood-red formula, a dirty mirrored wall behind the tub and Kier immersing himself for an uncomfortably long time before re-emerging as©¼
It should be sadly noted that Borowczyk¨ˆs last listed directing credit is for an episode of a 1990 television series called SERIE ROSE, meaning that for the last 16 years, his unique cinematic voice was uncalled upon. One of cinema¨ˆs great one-of-a-kind artists was too long missing in action, and is now forever gone from a withering landscape of diminishing filmic returns.
In recent years, many of these movies have finally been unleashed by various brave DVD companies around the world, and one can only hope that some of the other, more difficult-to-obtain titles will soon become available so people can discover what they¨ˆve been missing.