{"id":4421,"date":"2014-05-10T22:11:26","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T21:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=4421"},"modified":"2014-09-25T07:56:51","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T06:56:51","slug":"the-streetwalker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/10\/the-streetwalker\/","title":{"rendered":"The Streetwalker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Streetwalker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nDirector:<\/B> Walerian Borowczyk

\nWriter:<\/B> Walerian Borowczyk

\nBased on the novel by:<\/B> Andr\u00e9 Pieyre de Mandiargues

\nCast:<\/B> Sylvia Kristel, Joe Dallesandro

\nOriginal title:<\/B> La marge<\/i>

\nAlternative title:<\/B> The Margin<\/i>

\nFrance 1976

\n88 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I think it was Lacan who asked the question: if we\u2019re always thinking about sex when we\u2019re doing other things \u2013 eating bananas, driving fast cars, learning French \u2013 what are we thinking about when we\u2019re actually having sex? When Sylvia Kristel\u2019s streetwalker Diana has sex in Walerian Borowczyk\u2019s 1976 film The Streetwalker<\/i> (La marge<\/i>), it\u2019s so obvious as to almost be ludicrous. She stares at the money that she has clutched in her hand with such intensity as to leave no doubt, even as her John, Sigimond (the iconic Joe Dallesandro) thrusts intently away. Sex is a transaction, a way of earning money. Sigimond is a rich vineyard owner with a young family visiting Paris for business. He is a romantic. He is not lonely and Borowczyk shows his home life to be sexually satisfying, idyllic even. He\u2019s prone to mutter mid-coital silliness such as \u2018You are the gift and the giver\u2019. And so his dalliance and experimentation while away on his \u2018business trip\u2019 has nothing to do with filling a vacuum. He just wants to have some sex. When he is having sex \u2013 to answer Lacan\u2019s question and in opposition to Diana \u2013 he is thinking about the sex he is having. The film will trace his increasing distraction and the tragic price to be paid for such guileless romance, even as Diana becomes more aware of sex as something other than a way of earning money, which in itself proves a painful reawakening.<\/p>\n

Released two years after Kristel achieved notoriety and worldwide fame as Emmanuelle<\/i>, the film stands as a testament to her genuine ability as an actress, and it is cited by the actress as her favourite role. Her fragility \u2013 the gnawing anxiety that she is already being superseded by younger models of her former self \u2013 and her growing yearning for something other than monetary gain is played out in a brilliant and nuanced performance. With the shifting of porn into the mainstream via the internet and the proliferation of sexposition in TV drama, the film doesn\u2019t even seem particularly pornographic today, but on release it was received as another attempt to gain art-house respectability for sex films. Kristel\u2019s fame possibly damaged the film as it was remarketed in some regions as Emmanuelle \u201977<\/i>. However, despite the movie star beauty of the prostitutes, Borowczyk never celebrates sex unambiguously, juxtaposing it with the banal. A beautifully shot strip show takes place as a crate of booze is delivered to the bar by a working stiff \u2013 sign here, keep a copy \u2013 and Diana will retire to the same backroom for a quick delivery of her own. The prostitutes are bitchy and Diana herself is dishonest and angry. Her pimp is a lazy dressing-gown-clad psychopath who does target practice with his pistol in his hotel room. But it is not just the sex that has to contend with the banal, but tragedy too when Sigimond reads a terrible letter from home while gazing over the most unromantic Parisian view of a huge building site.<\/p>\n

Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection<\/a> is released by Arrow Academy on 8 September 2014. This unique limited edition box set (Dual Format DVD + Blu-ray) includes the short films<\/a>, The Theatre of Mr and Mrs Kabal<\/i>, Goto, l\u2019île d\u2019amour<\/i><\/a>, Blanche<\/i><\/a>, The Beast<\/i><\/a> and Immoral Tales<\/i><\/a> – it does not contain The Streetwalker<\/em>.<\/div>\n

With a score from some giants of 1970s music, a stunning extended use of Pink Floyd\u2019s \u2018Shine on You Crazy Diamond\u2019 and some fantastic cinematography by long-time collaborator Bernard Daillencourt, the film is a beautiful melancholic meditation on sex in a dirty, dirty world.<\/p>\n

John Bleasdale<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

Watch the original trailer:<\/B><\/p>\n