Une partie de plaisir (1975)

English titles: Pleasure Party; A Piece of Pleasure

Philippe lives with his wife Esther and their little daughter in a country estate. Philippe confesses his past infidelities to Esther and tells her that it would be OK if she had extramarital affairs too. During one of their house parties, Esther goes to bed with Habib, whom Philippe dislikes. Philippe is OK with that, but when Esther starts leading a double life, Philippe gets annoyed.

An investigation of the new conjugal mores and their psychological effects on modern men and women. I couldn't decide whether it is reactionary -- Philippe's dream of civilized liberalism is shattered -- or progressivist -- masculine power is incompatible with progress, and thus would have to be suppressed. However one looks at it, it's a strong movie, with smart dialogue and a fairly tense story progression. The two main parts are played by the screenwriter and his ex-wife, an arrangement which gives the movie an extraordinary sense of verisimilitude. This is a work of imagination which drew on autobiographical events. The physically violent parts are inventions, I suppose. Although it's fairly grim, I highly recommend this film.

Rating: 79

Un rincón para querernos (1965)

A honeymooning couple finds it difficult to enjoy a moment alone. First they are crowded with other people in the train, then, in Pamplona during the San Fermín festival, they can't find a room, and must "enjoy" the tumultuous festivities in town.

In equal parts comedy and tourist-sploitation, this is an agreeable throwback to simpler times, though animal lovers will perhaps frown upon the depiction of the famous running of the bulls, and political fanatics will doubt that everyone could be that happy during a dictatorship. A segment of Manicomio (1954), which I have reviewed recently, depicted a similar situation as the one seen here during the train ride.

Rating: 55

A Navalha na Carne (1970)

English title: Razor in the Flesh

The tense interaction between a pimp and a prostitute because of some stolen money gets tenser when they bring into their room the homosexual janitor who stole it.

The interesting text based on a play is the strong suit of this drama, which also boasts some interesting cinematic ideas such as the initial silent half-hour, and good performances by the trio of actors. A low point are the sex sequences, which were badly filmed due probably to fear of the Brazilian censorship, but became a problem anyway, delaying the film's opening by a few months.

Rating: 50

Le gendarme et les gendarmettes (1982)

 U.S. titles: The Gendarme and the Gendarmettes; The Troops & Troop-ettes

The St. Tropez policemen move to a new office, and get a computer to aid in their work. Their team is expanded to include four female officers, who unfortunately are kidnapped as part of a scheme which poses a great threat to the nation.

In a certain way this is the worst film of the franchise, because the amount of cringeworthy humor is simply intolerable in itself. But interspersed with those awful sequences are some passable action ones, and one which is actually very good: a nun goes on a driving rampage and her car disintegrates in the process. The previous film in the series didn't get as annoying as this one is at times, but it was also more monotonous.

Rating: 34

Bara no sôretsu (1969)

 English title: Funeral Parade of Roses

Loosely based on the play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, first published around 429 B.C.

Eddie, an effeminate man who works entertaining customers at a homosexual bar vies for the position of "madam", which is occupied by the bar owner's current lover. Eddie has a troubled family past which will bear tragic consequences for his future. A parallel plot centers on the (fictional) actor playing Eddie as he performs his work and interacts with his friends.

While this film's critical status is in part due to its use of pop art techniques, which can be a little annoying at times, and its fame probably stems significantly from its (once) controversial subject matter, it's only fair to say that its narrative bits are quite competently staged, especially in its ability to elicit convincing performances from its actors.

Rating: 50

Link to an online copy (I watched it on TV though): Funeral Parade Of Roses : Toshio Matsumoto : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Manicomio (1954)

 English title: Asylum

Based on the short stories The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether (1845), by Edgar Allan Poe, La mona de imitación (1923), by Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Putanitsa (tr. 'Confusion') (1897), or its variation Oshibka (tr. 'Mistake') (1900), by Aleksandr Kuprin, and Mysl (tr. 'Thought') (1902), by Leonid Andreyev.

A man goes to visit his fiancée at the madhouse where she works as a psychiatrist. He encounters several persons there who tell curious stories about mental patients. Each story is developed in flashback: a man whose wife one day starts repeating everything he says; a woman who feigns madness on a train in order to better enjoy her honeymoon; a man who feigns madness so as not to be punished for a crime he is planning to commit.

Collection of stories about mad people framed by Poe's story. The joining of stories with different styles and moods into one coherent whole has been passably achieved; the film doesn't aim for subtlety or depth, but the mise-en-scène is serviceable, and the result is curious and entertaining.

Rating: 51

Links to all but one of the short stories (one may use the machine translation button to convert the ones in Russian to one's preferred language):

Александр Куприн: Путаница (kuprin-lit.ru)

Александр Куприн: Ошибка (Вариант рассказа "Путаница") (kuprin-lit.ru)

A Dilemma - Wikisource, the free online library

The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether - Wikisource, the free online library