Edited by - Mythsong on 10/31/2003 10:33:21 PM

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Didn't you say in your review that "Catherine gives herself an enema?" Are you sure?

The picture quality is bad, but it looked to us like she was using an enema bag, but was using it to douche.

We also got to talking about the sybolism of her throwing out the jewels. My wife, who isn't into subtext, said she thought the devil had her do it to make her husband think she had ran off. I am into symbolism, and I was thinking it illustrated her saying he would no longer get to have her. But that didn't make sense because the husband finds the jewels. But then, maybe we were both right. It was another lie by the devil, telling her the symbolic reasons, but really just trying to trick the husband into not looking for her.

Also, if you watch the movie again, watch the interaction between the male dinner guest and the daughter when she comes into the dining room to show her pictures. It looks to me like the male dinner guest originally was acting frisky and has "busy hands" on her, but the Director decided to let that subplot end up on the editing room floor.

_______________________________

"The greatest argument for the existence of God,
is the beauty of the female form." -- Blake_Fan

"The great ambition of women is to inspire love." -- Moliere (1622-1673)

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As for Through The Looking Glass , it's one of my favourite adult movies and may actually be my favourite from the Golden Age. I think most people would agree that the disk is appalling but I'm not sure what we can do about it. I'm guessing that the market for these films is pretty small and that would be cited as justification for the absence of any significant restoration work. I have thought about boycotting companies like VCX (they're not the only ones guilty of this but are probably the worst offenders) but they have released some genuine classics and, in the absence of competing releases from other territories, therefore hold 'all the aces'. Perhaps if enough people make their feelings known on boards like this we can shame these companies into producing higher quality disks.

SDC

"If we couldn't have sex from time to time, what would life be? A futile struggle against joints that stiffen and caries that form."

Michel Houllebecq

Edited by - sdc on 11/1/2003 7:48:13 AM

Edited by - sdc on 11/1/2003 7:49:42 AM

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Later: Here's my exact quote:

Oi. I just re-read bits of my review and see that I actually used the word "symbology" rather than "symbolism". I'm cringing as I type this. Whatever could have possessed me to do that? No, wait. Possession's what it's all about...

Edited by - Mythsong on 11/1/2003 11:13:12 PM

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As to the film itself, I've always liked it, although it illustrates the sort of problems I think porn gets into when it takes on complex, self-sustaining narrative structures. The pornographic aspect becomes muted and displaced, or the narrative fractures itself on the rocks on the pornographic "interruptions." In either case, the arousal factor, the single essential ingredient in explicit pornography, gets scrambled in the transmission, like a bad radio signal. In Through the Looking Glass , the sort of scenes that in a less competent porn film would have been stimulating (the young girl seduced by her father, for example), in this case repel us because of the force of the narrative project--in other words, something else is going on that ruins the usual pornographic codes, codes that are usually based on an absence of context, conscience, or consequence (all things that narrative structures usually provide). If you think of pornography as a fantastic, narcissistic sexual utopia, shedding all meaningful social, temporal, and ethical forms in deference to erotic fulfillment, then the interruption of that utopia with narrative is always potentially hazardous. The narratives that work in pornographic utopias tend to be simple, and conform to the fantastic rules of those utopias (the housewife always fucks the mailman, force always becomes consensual, and so on).

In this case, I think the film's creators knew what they were doing, as Flash suggested. In fact, the whole fable implicit in the film connects with the dichotomy I have just described: the narcissistic heroine, preferring to masturbate by herself, locked up in the attic with her own image in the mirror (perhaps a metaphor for her fantasy life, connected by images of her father and a loathing and fear of sexual conduct, an idea associated with the bourgeois class she belongs to), removing herself from the public life of a wife and mother, eventually falls into the mirror, never to return. Her removal from active life, both sexually (with her husband), and socially, suggests the retreat into a private sexual utopia of which there ultimately is no exit. The sexually explicit images in the movie are all destructive and foreboding to us as viewers, but strangely enticing to the heroine. Reminds you a bit of the porn freak alone in front of his TV, isolated from life, in his own little world, jerking off forever, outside of all meaningful social interaction. The danger of porn is falling into that mirror, at least for some of us.

I suppose if you look at the film this way, it becomes a parable about the seductive power of our own sexual utopias and the pornographic materials that create them(in the heroine's case, her own body and what goes on in her mind); it also accounts for the deliberate attempt to reduce the erotic element in the explicit scenes, and their nature and placement within the narrative. It is also possible, on the other hand, that the director had no idea about any of this, and just made a decent B-film with the most transgressive sexual images he could come up with--a notion that had high currency in the NYC porn scene in 1976, where this film was made. And if you believe that, then I certainly wouldn't argue with you about it. One thing is for sure; we are unlikely to see a film that combines production and a triple X rating of this type ever again, at least in this country.

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You have writen some of the most insightful, clear-headed analysis of the problems of trying to combine a good stroke with a good story.

Thanks!

T.C.

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Flash, in terms of The Image , renting before you buy does make sense. The film details an escalating master and slave relationship and will probably repel more than it arouses. I found one of the final sequences, which features whips, chains and hot needles, particularly uncomfortable viewing. Having said that, it's an exquisitely made erotic film and certainly not one you'll forget in a hurry. I find it quite amusing, given the extreme content, that the disk's on sale in some very mainstream stores.

SDC

"If we couldn't have sex from time to time, what would life be? A futile struggle against joints that stiffen and caries that form."

Michel Houllebecq

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I've been wanting to watch Radley Metzger's 1973 movie Score ever since I heard about it last month, but I'm really opposed to purchasing a DVD in which a half hour of material has been excised. Does anyone know if an uncensored version exists or will be released in the future?

Through the Looking Glass is on my wish list, as well, but I think I'm going to have to be in just the right mood to watch it.

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There is an Italian VHS release that's apparently uncut, and in English, but I don't know whether a tape would be of any interest. A UK dvd release is in the works but I'd be surprised if it turns out to be more complete than the Image disk. I actually think we'll see a totally uncut release in the US in the not to distant future. I recall reading that Synapse films had acquired another Metzger title and, although Score wasn't specifically named, a couple of hints lead me to believe that's what it is. Sorry for being so vague but I can't find the post at the moment.

As for the movie itself, it's a slick, playful comedy, more akin to Metzger's Henry Paris work than the softcore dramas that preceded it (or, for that matter, The Image ). You can find some excellent reviews of Metzger's films, both hard and soft, here

Apologies to blake_fan and Mythsong for taking this thread further off topic

SDC

"If we couldn't have sex from time to time, what would life be? A futile struggle against joints that stiffen and caries that form."

Michel Houllebecq

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Thanks for the great link and additional info. I no longer own a fully functioning VCR, so tape won't work for me. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the uncut release from Synapse. That's very good news if it's true; Score sounds like my kind of film.

And now back to our regularly scheduled discussion... I promise to make it up to you all by finally buying and watching Through the Looking Glass, which Mythsong recommended to me so many moons ago...

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I'll probably take a chance on this when it shows up with my preferred retailers.

Edited by - SDC on 3/30/2005 3:20:03 AM

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