FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: The Beast - (La Bete) [DVD] [2001]

The Beast - (La Bete) [DVD] [2001]
enlarge	Director: Walerian Borowczyk Actors: Sirpa Lane, Lisbeth Hummel, Elisabeth Kaza, Pierre Benedetti, Marie Testanière Studio: Nouveaux Pictures Category: DVD List Price: ~~£19.99~~ Buy New: £5.68 as of 23/11/2009 05:31 GMT details You Save: £14.31 (72%) New (17) Used (3) Collectible (1) from £5.67 Seller: acclaimed-dvds Rating: 9 reviews Sales Rank: 17082 Format: PAL, Widescreen Languages: English (Unknown), French (Unknown), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Italian (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over Region: 2 Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 93 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 UPC: 503501701600 EAN: 0503501701600 ASIN: B00005OW2P Theatrical Release Date: April 15, 1977 Release Date: November 19, 2001 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 9 1 2 Next » Penetrating study of animalism September 23, 2003 Petrides Antonis (Nicosia, Cyprus) 23 out of 27 found this review helpful The Beast is a landmark study of animalism in all its guises, forms and extremities, from the sexuality of beasts to the bestiality of humans, literal or not... The sensibility of the film is decidedly '70s, yet the sheer strength of its psychological insight and the eerie quality of its cinematography has remained unscathed by time. In terms of explicitness, the film's ability to shock has been, of course, severely compromised by the explosion of pornography that marked the '80s (the sex-scenes as they stand would be utterly ridiculous in a less reflective film), but The Beast never aimed at shock for shock's sake. Categorising the Beast under "erotic" cinema - with the derogatory insinuations of the term - is unjust. The Beast is a great European masterpiece. Borowczyk is leagues ahead of Franco or Brass even at their most illuminated... The Beast is best September 20, 2002 12 out of 16 found this review helpful What can I say about this film? A classic and you either feel extremely horny or you laugh out loud - or both - at the ending but one thing's for sure Walerian B does things on film that no-one else would ever dream of or dare to. You must see this movie, it is what real erotica [with tongue very much in, er, cheek] is all about. He never matched this with naff things like Behind Convent Walls or Emannuelle 5. This is a masterpiece. Oooh Matron!!! Carry on Horseman! August 13, 2002 DM Webster (Norfolk) 22 out of 29 found this review helpful Banned for 26 years, The Beast is an hilarious example of how times have changed. Unlike others in the current spate of released 'previously banned' material thanks to the increasingly liberal BBFC, The Beast has faired quite well against the ravages of time. Taking as its premise the story of Beauty and the Beast, Borowczyk warns us in the opening scenes what the film will contain with scenes of horse impregnating. From there the story spirals into hysteria with dream sequences which look like a cross between animal porn and a carry on film. A man in a rubber ape suit chases a woman in silky gown through the woods and rapes her there. Thank God for equality though, because she takes charge and literally has sex with it until it dies. Yes this film is rude and over the top, but how anyone could have taken it seriously 26 years ago is beyond me. An erotic comic delight! Visually and sensually fascinating November 19, 2008 Basiledes (North Wales) It's extraordinary how rewarding Borowczyk's films are when you watch them again and again. They actually get better and more interesting. This is certainly not due to the abstract thematic content which I am unable to make much of as it often amounts to nothing more than an attack on the upper social classes, conventional sexual morality and the Catholic Church. br /It may well be that they are fully satisfying on formal visual grounds alone, which is surprising since there is also a strongly spontaneous, loose even amateurish quality about his films, often accentuated by the shaky (pre Steady-Cam) camera work - just like early Ken Russell. In this particular film the first, modern-day part is shot with fixed cameras, and the second part 18thC flashback is shot hand-held. br /But his films have strong human interest too and his characters are represented in an equally original way in terms of the way they are observed. br /Here the longest sequence concerning the erotic is the final part of the film, showing in handheld flashback the original family legend of the beast, not done for horror or much for the erotic, but handled in a not very serious, amusing sort of way. The truly erotically interesting scenes are short vignettes that appear earlier in the film set in the present day. Short though these glimpses of private moments are they are nevertheless rewarding for the unique way that Borowczyk's camera is able to capture the otherness of the female body. That is his genius. Extremely Bizarre Cult Film August 3, 2007 Kasey Driscoll 13 out of 13 found this review helpful Walerian Borowczyk's explicit and insane la Bête (The Beast) is a directly adult reflection of the sexual undertones in many fairy tales. There are segments in la Bête that are unflinching enough to be deemed pornographic but they are done in such a silly and shocking way we cannot assume that Borowcyzk's goals are to titillate. I mean come on, the film opens with a close-up of a female horse's private parts and a male horse jumps right into the mix soon thereafter. There is also a tremendous amount of (human) nudity in la Bête and while gratuitous, it does seem to be appropriate within the film, even though it isn't necessarily erotic. I don't think it is possible to categorize this movie and that in and of itself is a strength for me. From beginning to end, I had no idea what to expect. br / br /The film takes place in the Esperance house that is awaiting a wedding between the family's son and Lucy. The family is full of chaos and everyone seems to have something to hide. Lucy becomes fascinated with the family's notorious ancestor Romilda, who apparently had a sexual encounter that Lucy reads about with a very well endowed beast in the woods nearby. Lucy imagines the experience Romilda went through graphically, and she almost seems to fantasize about the ordeal. We see the sequence almost in its entirety. It consists of Romilda (Sirpa Lane) running around gradually losing her clothes with some harpsichord music playing and eventually she succumbs to the beast's advances and gets it on with his giant prosthetic phallus. It is graphic enough that it would be nearly impossible to say it isn't shocking, but it is funny enough that the audience will laugh uncomfortably until it concludes. You certainly won't forget this sequence and there are several more memorable parts before and after. br / br /Just because someone may care I won't reveal how la Bête ends. Walerian Borowcyzk actually does seem to have a way with making movies. His other films are for the most part straight-forward erotica but he has the ability to make beautiful shots and here he even puts together an interesting, albeit strictly comedic, commentary on human and animal sexual impulse. I don't want to mislead anyone here; the priorities of this movie are by no means it's potentially significant insights. I don't know what Borowcyzk's intentions are but la Bête is certainly one of a kind. br / br /The Cult Epics three disc release is worth owning if you enjoy rare and unique films. Especially ones that push the limit like this one. We have the dubbed version and the director's cut in here, as well as a great stills gallery and a hilarious trailer that shows almost the entire sequence with the beast and Sirpa Lane, but with a black bar over the graphic footage...as if we don't know what could be happening. On the third disc we have over one hundred minutes of silent behind the scenes footage and several other interesting features. The book that comes with this edition is probably the best aspect of the Cult Epics release. It has stills of some of the more noteworthy content and explains the film in far better detail than I have. This is recommended for collectors and definitely for those of us not easily offended. Showing reviews 1-5 of 9 1 2 Next »

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