Vögel sterben in Peru

Written and directed by novelist Romain Gary, BIRDS IN PERU is a slow-moving French film intended to bolster Seberg's career, which was flagging at the time (1968), and was also intended as Gary's response to the movies previously made from his books - such as ROOTS OF HEAVEN and LADY L - which he disliked. Unfortunately, Gary the filmmaker was a negligible talent compared with Gary the novelist, and BIRDS IN PERU suffers greatly as filmed drama. It tries for a romantic ambience but is more correctly a somewhat clinical meditation on the life of a suicidal nymphomaniac (Seberg) who, after a night-long orgy wakes up to find herself surrounded by bodies, some dead and some alive. She wanders down a Caribbean beach followed by her somewhat maniacal husband and chauffeur. She wants sex at every turn but is actually quite frigid, which sets up the underlying tension in the movie, which is ineptly explored. Seberg does little but stroll aimlessly throughout the film, apparently pursued by the husband who wants her dead.

While Gary attempted to produce a bitter satire on the feminine mystique, the action, dialog and schematic photography are too vague and arty and achieve only boredom. BIRDS IN PERU is not pointed enough for satire and too unrealistic as straight melodrama. The opening beach orgy scene provides the film's most compelling imagery, with its attempts to visually interpret some of the horrors Seberg's character feels towards sex.

BIRDS IN PERU has a place in movie history as one of the first films to receive an "X" rating in the U.S., but the sex and nudity are quite tame by modern standards and Miss Seberg lounges around in skimpy attire for the bulk of the running time, threatening but unwilling to reveal more.

I agree that this was not a great movie, but it has lived in my mind despite only seeing it once as a student in Lancaster - partly because of the extremely good Kenton Coe score, based on a Peruvian tune. I think that just as some bad books can make great movies, some movies stick like a burr despite the fact that all you can remember is a feeling, an atmosphere or a memory of some music. One of those movies is this. For me, a few others are the wartime melodrama "The Key", "Herostratus", "One evening a train", "The Keep" , "Happiness" and "Rider on the rain"

Was this movie ever released on laser disc, VHS or DVD?

"To be old without being adult" (Song of old lovers), Jacques Brel

A rant - I have just been forced by IMDb "guidelines" to translate the original French film titles and Brel song quote above.

What does the I in IMDb stand for???

Whenever talk turns to the worst movie ever made, this is the one I always nominate. It is so bad, it's mesmerizing; you stick with it because you can't believe it could get any worse. It does. Dumb acting, dumber plot, dumbest dialogue I've ever heard. One actor who's the spitting image of a young Marlon Brando and who tries to imitate Brando's mannerisms. A leading lady who proves her rep as an empty actress is fully deserved. When the lights came up after the movie was over, there was this look of stunned disbelief on the faces of as much of the audience I could see. Romain Gary was a good writer, perhaps even a great one; how he could do a thing like this is beyond me.

This movie rates really low. I will give my opinion on Birds in Peru. The woman has secrets and it is impossible to tell the truth from the fiction. You can tell her marriage is a loveless one. Her affairs are loveless too. She wants to die and that is the easiest part of the film to understand. Can She love? Is it possible to unchain her heavy heart? She finds a new lover and he has problems too. There are too many unanswered questions which never gets resolved. The movie is about 90 minutes long. I don't think the movie is good. However, I reviewed this movie because I wanted it to get noticed. Jean Seberg and Romaine Gary apparently committed suicide about 10 years after this picture was made. It also received a X rating. I owe it to them even if the picture has many issues it still needs to be seen in honor of their memory. Give it your own review!