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Released by: Cult Epics
Relased on: 4/26/2005
Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Cast: Mathieu Carrií¨re, Marina Pierro, Josy Bernard, Isabelle Tinard, Jacques Couderc, Guy Bonnafoux
Year: 1988
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The Movie:
A little more subdued than some of his earlier entries into eroticism, Love Rites, 1988's final film (at least as of this writing) from from Polish born director Walter Borowczyk (best known for helimg The Beast and Immoral Tales) is a dreamy and at times almost surrealist look at a strange case of love and the inevitable head games that sometimes come with it.
Also known as Ceremonie D'Amour and The Queen Of Night, the film follows a lady of the evening named Myriam (the gorgeous Marina Pierro of Jean Rollin's Living Dead Girl and Borowczyk's earlier Behind Convent Walls) who meets a man named Hugo (Mathieu Carriere, who was amazing in his debut in Volker Schlondorff's Young Torless) completely by chance one night in the subway station. The two get off the subway and wander into a church for an impromptu make out session, and then eventually head back to an apartment to take things up to the next level (in short, they spend the day in bed together). Once they've done the deed, however, Myriam pulls a few surprises out of her hat and Hugo finds out that he's gotten involved with something a lot more unusual than just a casual fling…
Love Rites is an odd movie, in a long history of odd movies from the director. Many of his traits are here - the lush settings, the plentiful nudity and strangely kinky moments, and the painterly and artful direction and cinematography. Performances are pretty solid from the two leads. While Carriere isn't nearly as good here as he was in his debut film (something I've never seen him top, unfortunately) he does do a good job of playing the male version of a deer in the headlights towards the later part of the film, even if he isn't all that interesting in the first part of it.
The real reason to watch the movie though, aside from the standard Borowczyk moments of eatheral beauty, is Marina Pierro. Watching her in this film one can easily understand why Borowczyk put her in no less than five of his feature films (Love Rites, Behind Convent Walls, Heroines Of Evil, Dr. Jekyll And His Women, and The Art Of Love). She's a stunner to look at clothed or unclothed and has a rare screen presence that really makes Love Rites a lot better than it would have been otherwise.
Of course, all of this frolicking around in the bedroom and the accompanying emotions that the characters experience as they go through it all leads up to a rather grisly conclusion which makes the film a whole lot more than just your typical romantic drama. While it has elements of that and at first it may seem to be heading down that road, as usual Borowczyk twists things around towards the end which makes it all very much worth watching. It's hardly his best film or his most interesting, but it's still very much his film from beginning to end, which makes it interesting, stylish, and often times quite compelling.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The image is presented just barley letterboxed at approximately 1.55.1 and for the most part, the movie doesn't look too bad. There is some softness present throughout the film and some of the compositions doappear to look this way intentionally, but the colors are represented nicely. There is some mild edge enhancement and a fine coat of film grain throughout but neither of these issues prove to be distracting for the most part. In short, the movie looks good, not great.
The French language Dolby Digital Mono track is free of hiss or distoration and for the most part sounds nice and clean. Optional English subtitles are provided that are free of any typographical errors and easy to read.
Extras are limited to a still gallery and some interesting liner notes on Borowczyk and this film in particular that come in the form of an insert inside the case from Rayo Casablanco and that reproduce some rather risque poster art on the other side.
One the opposite side of the disc from the director's cut of the film is the complete version, which runs a full ten minutes longer than the director's cut does. Shoring the film of ten minutes actually benefits is, as the majority of what is excised is simply superfluous dialogue that really doesn't further the plot or help the story much at all - it's simply the two central characters becoming closer through conversation, however that part of the storyline is made perfectly clear in this shorter version as well. Regardless, it's nice to have both cuts of the film on the disc, even if it is 'just to have them.'
The Final Word:
While it would have been nice to see a few more extra features on the disc, Cult Epics' release of Love Rites looks and sounds fairly good and the movie is an interesting and very sexual take on what is essentially a very simple love story.