Author Jean (Carl Parker, SCORE) attends a jet set party on the Place de la Concorde one night and becomes captivated by Anne (Mary Mendum, ABIGAIL LESLIE IS BACK IN TOWN), a photographic model who "belongs" to glacial fashion photographer Claire (Marilyn Roberts, LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR). Although Jean is fascinated by Claire, he is physically attracted to Anne. Claire invites him to witness the depth of Anne's submission to Claire (which soon includes making her available to him). Is Anne a pawn in a power struggle between Claire and Jean, or is Jean the pawn? Source novel author Jean de Berg is actually a nom-de-plume for Catherine Robbe-Grillet (wife of Alain, who himself penned a first-person erotic novel under the feminine pseudonym Jeanne de Berg titled WOMEN'S RITES in 1985). THE IMAGE was published in the US by Grove Press (who also published several of Robbe-Grillet's novels). After the Metzger film came out, it was reissued in a paperback edition illustrated with stills from the film (it was not billed as a movie tie-in, rather it was described as featuring stills by Metzger). Although Mendum is a striking physical presence here, she is better known to exploitation fans as the muse of Metzger's American eroticism contemporary Joseph Sarno as Rebecca Brooke (having starred in five of his films, including the rediscovered ABIGAIL LESLIE IS BACK and LAURA'S TOYS). While shooting in Paris, she also appeared in French erotic filmmaker Max Pecas' FELICIA (a softcore production only available in the US in its hardcore-insert version). Roberts, a stage actress with only a handful of credits in film and TV, is effectively icy while letting flickers of emotion come to the surface. Parker is dubbed here, no doubt to seem more believable as a continental intellectual (his dubbed voice is also American and it is not clear if he is supposed to be an ex-patriot or a Frenchman), but the role is problematic in the first place. All of his emotional conflict exists on the level of the narration, while physically his character remains impassive as a challenge to Claire's provocations. Valerie Marron, who plays the dress-shop girl in one of the film's hardcore sequences, also appeared in a handful of softcore and hardcore pictures including works by Shaun Costello (COME FLY WITH US) and Roberta Findlay (THE CLAMDIGGER'S DAUGHTER). Metzger photographed the film under the name "René Lefèvre," and his use of color and framing is as elegant as his earlier 35mm productions (and many of the French erotica films he was distributing through Audubon Films). The film's hardcore content is restricted to a handful of sequences during the middle twenty minutes of the film (after a compelling buildup), but it is the climactic (and extended) "Gothic Chamber" sequence which is most memorable, chilling, and harrowing.

***

From highly acclaimed director Radley Metzger, THE IMAGE (aka THE PUNISHMENT OF ANNE , THE MISTRESS AND THE SLAVE) is a fascinating study of the sadomasochistic relationship between a man, a young girl, and an older woman. Jean (Carl Parker, SCORE), meets his old friend Claire (Marilyn Roberts) at a party and is introduced to the young, seductive Anne (Mary Mendum). Jean discovers the two women have a master/slave relationship and gets seduced into their perverse sexual games. Based on the classic novel L' Image from Catherine Robbe-Grillet (under the pseudonym of Jean de Berg), this masterpiece of cinema is hailed by critics as one of the best erotic films ever made. Beautifully photographed with highly explicit imagery and provocative situations, THE IMAGE will titillate, arouse and shock you like no other film you've ever seen.

1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 25.31 Mbps

1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 25.31 Mbps

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.