Art Of Love (aka Ars amandi/1983/Severin
DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C- Film: C-
Walerian
Borowczyk is a director of stylish erotic films from the 1970s which peaked
with his unusual film The Beast
(1975, reviewed elsewhere on this site; see link below) and was talked up as an
important director who may have been “combining” art and erotica, but it was
more hype than substance and he only gained a cult following. Still, some people get a kick out of his
work, but the work has not dated well, even relatively newer films like Art Of Love (aka Ars amandi/1983) now on DVD from Severin.
Considered
the final film in his “Immoral Trilogy”
after Immoral Women and The Beast, Art Of Love seems like an afterthought and as if he were trying to
create a rebuttal against Caligula
(also reviewed on this site) as failed film with his own answer to it. No sex tyrant is here, but the look and the
period are practically the same throughout (8 A.D. versus Guccione’s surreal,
renamed time period) and like The Beast,
bestiality is a theme, but it is here trying to be profound and abstract. Too bad it does not work.
Many of
the scenes are narrated by a teacher explaining “love” to his class while
everything else but is going on, though this is not trying to be a comedy, is
hard to take seriously. The women are
shot in diffusion, even to the point of wearing sheer materials often. Yes, we got the point, which defines how over
obvious this is. Even in its 97 minutes,
uncut version, the erotica is limited and can be unintentionally campy. To some fans, that might be the point, but
unless you like the director’s work, you will not be too impressed.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is from a dated print with scattered
instances of damage throughout. It looks
faded, so color only occasionally looks good, but the film needs more
restoration. Fleshtones are also foiled
by this limit, along with more grain than should be present in a 1980s
film. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
dubbed English and is still very weak, distorted and as constant background
hiss, even if it is on a low level. The
combination looks more like an early 1970s print. The only extra is the original foreign
trailer.
For more
on The Beast, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6670/La+B%C3%AAte+(La+Bete/The+Beast
- Nicholas Sheffo
