{"id":4662,"date":"2014-07-22T20:12:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T19:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=4662"},"modified":"2014-09-25T07:42:30","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T06:42:30","slug":"the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/07\/22\/the-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Beast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nCamera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection<\/a>

\nFormat:<\/B> Dual Format (DVD + Blu-ray)

\nRelease date:<\/B> 8 September 2014

\nDistributor:<\/B> Arrow Academy

\nDirector:<\/B> Walerian Borowczyk

\nWriter:<\/B> Walerian Borowczyk

\nCast:<\/B> Sirpa Lane, Lisbeth Hummel, Elisabeth Kaza

\nOriginal title:<\/B> La B\u00eate<\/i>

\nFrance 1975

\n93 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Part fairy tale, part sex romp, part Buñuelian satire, Walerian Borowczyk\u2019s The Beast<\/i> is as much of a quirky oddity now as it was upon its original release in 1973. Disparaged by Borowczyk purists and mainstream reviewers both (the New York Times<\/i> called it \u2018unfit for man or beast\u2019), the film was originally rejected for UK certification by the BBFC and not seen here in its uncut form until 2001, when it finally underwent something of a critical reappraisal.<\/p>\n

So how does the once controversial film look now, nearly 40 years on from its production? Certainly still transgressive; perhaps less so for its over the top scenes of prosthetic bestiality than its cheerful disavowal of current social mores (it\u2019s hard to imagine the character of the priapic black servant passing muster these days, for one). The sexual liaison between woman and beast (King Kong<\/i> with bodily fluids!) that so outraged reviewers at the time seems largely comic now; not simply because of the relatively primitive make-up effects, but mainly due to the fact that Borowczyk seems to be in on the joke, even if most of the critics of the period weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But beyond the more censor-baiting material, The Beast<\/i> is still a barbed, funny satire on sex, hypocrisy and repression. Certainly its jabs at the aristocracy and the priesthood, although perhaps less daring with age, are still relevant several decades on. And the director\u2019s visual command and deft pacing keep the bawdy hijinks from ever descending into complete silliness, even if he never seems to be taking any of it particularly seriously. It\u2019s impossible to claim The Beast<\/i> as a particularly poetic or meaningful film; without a doubt there are Borowczyk works that go deeper. But it nevertheless remains a defiantly entertaining one, political correctness be damned.<\/p>\n

Sean Hogan<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part fairy tale, part sex romp, part Bu&#241uelian satire, Walerian Borowczyk\u2019s most notorious film remains a quirky oddity.
\nReview by Sean Hogan<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,3],"tags":[968,139,879,145,156,880],"class_list":["post-4662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","tag-bestiality","tag-censorship","tag-erotica","tag-french-cinema","tag-polish-cinema","tag-walerian-borowczyk"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1dc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4449,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/22\/who-is-walerian-borowczyk\/","url_meta":{"origin":4662,"position":0},"title":"Who Is Walerian Borowczyk?","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"May 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of our exploration of the ground-breaking Polish director, we look at his career as a board game. Comic strip review by Tony HItchman","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"review_WBcomic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/review_WBcomic-594x840.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/review_WBcomic-594x840.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/review_WBcomic-594x840.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4579,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/06\/28\/les-astronautes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4662,"position":1},"title":"Les Astronautes","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"June 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of our exploration of Walerian Borowczyk's work, we look at this wonderful short film, made in collaboration with Chris Marker. Comic strip review by Lord Hurk","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Les Astronautes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Les-Astronautes-594x2087.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Les-Astronautes-594x2087.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Les-Astronautes-594x2087.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4421,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/10\/the-streetwalker\/","url_meta":{"origin":4662,"position":2},"title":"The Streetwalker","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"May 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Walerian Borowczyk\u2019s beautiful melancholic meditation on sex in a dirty, dirty world, with Sylvia Kristel and Joe Dallesandro. Review by John Bleasdale","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Margin","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/The-Margin-594x453.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/The-Margin-594x453.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/The-Margin-594x453.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4438,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/21\/blanche\/","url_meta":{"origin":4662,"position":3},"title":"Blanche","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"May 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With its elegant costumes and set design, Walerian Borowczyk\u2019s sophisticated medieval tragedy exceeds conventional historical dramas. 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