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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet
France/Belgium 2006
Academic John Locke (James Wilby, GOSFORD PARK) is in
Morocco studying the North African sketchbooks of Eugene
Delacroix (who went to Morocco in 1832). One night, he
mysteriously receives a set of slides depicting sketches
of a beautiful young woman in scandalously erotic poses.
The next day while searching for a dentist on the
Medina, Locke catches sight of the woman (Arielle
Dombasile of Robbe-Grillet's BLUE VILLA) but loses her
in the crowd. A blind beggar offers to show him where he
can purchase real Delacroix sketches. On the ride to the
palace of a secretive collector, the beggar tells Locke
that the woman he has seen may be the ghost of Leila, a
girl beheaded in the 19th century for loving a passing
foreigner (Delacroix?). The collector Dr. Anatoli (Farid
Chopel), who turns out to be a slave trader who uses his
palace as a "finishing school" for female sex slaves,
seems to know a lot about Locke and his studies. There,
Locke is permitted entrance into the Club of the Golden
Triangle where he encounters Leila (or Gradiva) in the
flesh. Is the woman really the ghost of the dead girl or
just the fictional double of a writer (also Dombasile)
who is writing her future memoirs or could Locke himself
be the writer's double? Or is Leila/Gradiva actually
Hermoine, the actress who performs in peoples dreams and
also acts in sado-erotic tableaux vivants at the Golden
Triangle? |
Posters
Theatrical Release: May 9th, 2007 (France)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Mondo Macabro - Region 0 - NTSC
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!
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Distribution |
Mondo Macabro Region 0 - NTSC |
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Runtime | 1:58:28 | |
Video |
1.82:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate |
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Audio | French (Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo) | |
Subtitles | English, none | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Mondo Macabro Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 10 |
Comments |
GRADIVA is an attractive, anamorphic and progressive transfer that runs at film speed (the Italian PAL DVD runs 1:54:04). Those accustomed to both the degraded quality of gray market representations of Robbe-Grillet's older works (as well as the wonderfully grainy new HD masters of TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS and EDEN AND AFTER) may find the slickness of Dominique Colin's cinematography as rendered here off-putting but will soon find themselves suitably absorbed into the colors and formal compositions of Robbe-Grillet's mise-en-scene. Stereo sound is restrained (it's a dialogue-heavy film) but there are some effective separations in the music and sound effects (including whip cracks and the sideways movement of Locke's slide carousel). The film's DVD supplements do not disappoint. Besides the informative interview with Robbe-Grillet, viewers will find the text-based contextual extra "Robbe-Grillet on Gradiva" very stimulating reading as it also covers Wilhelm Jensen's novel of the same name and Freud's literary analysis (both of which were published together in the recent US paperback edition). Besides the film's frustratingly evasive theatrical trailer (frustrating to those of us who saw it quite some time before the film's unofficial English-friendly availability), and the usual filmographies, the disc finishes up with Mondo Macabro's usual promo reel (which seems to be getting quite cluttered as more clips from their growing library are added to the same musical loop).
*The Movie Review Query Engine entry for the reviews is actually for GRADIVA (1970) based on the novel that inspired Robbe-Grillet. There is no MRQE entry for Robbe-Grillet's film. |
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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Distribution |
Mondo Macabro Region 0 - NTSC |