Review of the Image (the Punishment of Anne)

Details
Director :	Radley Metzger
Starring:	Carl Parker, Marilyn Roberts, Mary Mendum
Blazon:	Color
Year:	1975
Linguistic communication:	English
Length:	91 min
Aspect Ratio:	1.85:ane
Video codec:	MPEG-four AVC
Resolution:	1080p
Audio:	DTS-Hd Main Audio 5.1DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles:	English
Rating:	NA
Disks:	1
Region:	All Regions

I first learned of director Radley Metzger while watching a 1975 Henry Paris pic called The Opening of Misty Beethoven. This was a hardcore porn film, oft considered to be the Denizen Kane of hardcore. It wasn't the Citizen Kane of anything really, but had huge ambitions on being more than required. Showtime, it was based on Pygmalion and really did endeavor to follow the lines of Bernard Shaw even when linguistics were made difficult due to oral sex. Second, it was shot and edited with a real sense of cinematic arts and crafts, wit and passion. Despite the fabric, despite the upkeep and genre requirements, Henry Paris fabricated a picture show that was near as good as was possible.

I wanted to see what else this "Henry Paris" had done. Perhaps he had "escaped" the hardcore genre, and concluded up doing a movie for Roger Corman? The truth is, he had no need for a Roger Corman, since he was already a Corman in his own correct. Paris was the hardcore picture show pseudonym for the quite successful Radley Metzger, a hit filmmaker who had begun his career with arty dramas before moving into softcore erotica often based on classic literature. In the '70s, he moved into making hardcore films under the "Henry Paris" label, and made 5 very distinctive films that include what is probably his real Citizen Kane, the surrealistic Barbara Circulate.

Along with his other hardcore titles, The Epitome was originally released in both hardcore and softcore versions to have full advantage of the market. I showtime saw this pic in a very grainy and desaturated DVD titled The Penalisation of Anne. While the content appears to be the same, visually this new Blu-ray release from Synapse is nothing short of breathtaking.

The Film

Based on the novel by "Jean De Berg" (the non de plume of Catherine Robbe-Grillet), the story is very much what you might expect from this genre. Going back to Pauline Raege'south The Story of O and even further dorsum to Laclos's Les Liaisons dangereuses,  these stories nowadays a voyeuristic tour of the world of the decadent rich and their very private and often perverse games involving ability and sex.

The Image deals with ability and sexual practice united though sadomasochism. When Jean (Carl Parker) first sees Anne (Mary Mendum) at a typically lavish party in Paris, he is immediately drawn to her. She seems to be individual and yet on display at the aforementioned fourth dimension. It turns out that she is the sexual slave of Jean's sometime friend,  Claire (Marilyn Roberts) and shortly Jean finds himself existence drawn to their hush-hush world like a moth to the flame. As par the course, Claire'south complex motivations and desires go harder and harder to feed and she begins to escalate the sadism to inhuman levels which are all the more shocking due to Anne's willingness to play forth.

Metzger's visual treatment of The Image goes beyond his work in Misty Beethoven and harks back to his earlier, more than formal films similar Therese and Isabelle and Camille 2000. But hither he combines his astonishing sense of visual limerick and rhythmic editing with a sincere attempt to examine this complex sexual triangle. Metzger and his bandage are brutally straight and quite fearless in telling this story. There are few films that venture seriously into the areas that this one does. Metzger stylizes, only refuses to let the sex scenes descend into black one-act in order to let the viewer off the hook. In this way, The Image becomes a very odd feel to watch, specially when our protagonist Jean becomes a willing participant in some of the more than fierce activities. The character steps abroad from being our guide to the action, and steps into the activeness himself, leaving the viewer alone to brand up their ain mind near what is being presented.

Video

Held against previous versions on DVD, including Synapse'southward own previous release, this Blu-Ray of The Prototype is conspicuously its definitive version. Synapse Films accept indicated that the high-definition transfer has been struck from the original 35 mm camera negative, rather than merely ported over from the previous DVD, and information technology makes for quite a departure. The visuals are dazzling, colors popular in every shot, and the travelogue aspect of the film can now be fully appreciated. There are amazing shots of the roads all around the Eiffel Belfry and the Arc de Triomphe that allow the viewer to actually see how one could make their way around there; this is all and so cleaned up that details deep in the shots tin be read. The film'south many scenes in dark rooms or night streets are too fantastic, with much clarity amid deep blacks. Synapse, here, sets a perfect example of how to treat a vintage-age film.

Audio

The soundtrack, in Dolby five.1, is remarkably crisp, given the era and upkeep of The Image. The film has been apparently post dubbed. If anything, the clarity of the track on the Blu-ray makes this even more obvious. This takes nothing away from the picture show, though, except give it the impression of being a strange film which it, indeed, does resemble.

Extras

Synapse does not add much in this department. A commentary by Metzger would have obviously been the big catch, just in lieu of that we get a comprehensive filmography, and a new set up of liner notes by Mondo Digital scribe Nathaniel Thompson.

Bottom Line

The Image is one of the essential works of erotic movie theater. That it works on the level of style and substance is a testament to Radley Metzger as a filmmaker. The Synapse Blu-Ray release is likely to be the definitive 1 for a long fourth dimension to come, and though it may not exist a film for everyone, it deserves to be appreciated past an audience that spans beyond that of erotic cinema.

~ by Brian Holcomb

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Source: https://diaboliquemagazine.com/the-image-blu-ray-review/

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