Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
Director: Jean Genet.
Writer: Jean Genet.
Stars: Bravo (uncredited), Jean Genet (uncredited), Java (uncredited), Coco Le Martiniquais (uncredited), André Reybaz (uncredited), Lucien Sénémaud (uncredited).
⇒ DOWNLOAD THIS FILM ⇐
Featured in Amos Vogel’s book Film as a Subversive Art.
Genet’s unforgettable film. I first saw this 20 years ago in a dark cinema in a completely silent screening and was pretty stunned to see homoerotic imagery this explicit in a film from the 1950s. I hope those watching it for the first time have the same response. Well done for bringing it here, Jon, A great addition,.
Terrible. Guess I expected something like Jean Cocteau. At least I wasn’t shocked, as I probably would have been, watching it in the 50s. Not sure what that says about our times, though.
Interesting curiosity. I remember seeing it in 1973 billed with Kenneth Anger’s SCORPIO RISING, FIREWORKS and Jean Cocteau’s BLOOD OF A POET.
It was shown at my university by its in-house Company Cinematheque complete with random pot-smoking in the audience and beer bottles rolled down the graded aisles.
I loved its straightforward outre (for its time) explicitness coupled with its reach for Art.
Would be great double-billed alongside Fassbinder’s genius psychedelic adaptation of Genet’s QUERELLE, a homoerotic classic in its own right.
Thanks for adding this!
Gregory, that’s the exact double bill I saw it in@
I first saw this on YouTube Several years ago. I don’t remember seeing some scenes. There were some quick glimpses of the nudity that I look for. The scene with them outside and the fellow starting to ‘explore’ the other man wa a real tease! It was definitely an erotic movie.