User reviews

Art or pornography? Well, if it's pornography certainly no pornographer in cinema as come as close to art as Borowczyk does here. The five "Immoral Tales" that make up this movie deal exclusively with sex in its various forms with a great emphasis on female nudity. Borowczyk deals with an almost fetishistic relish on the woman's body while almost totally ignoring the man's. With the exception of the first story, 'The Tide', the others are all taken from history or the past. We get St. Therese, she who was raped rather than give up her virginity; Elisabeth Bathory, she who liked to bathe, so they say, in the blood of virgins and Lucrezia Borgia, who apparently liked it whatever way she could get it. We also get a mini version of what became "The Beast" whose engorged phallus is one of the very few 'male' organs we see.

Visually the film's palette changes to suit the story at hand and this is very much a sex movie for the intelligentsia, which isn't to say that the 'dirty mac' brigade won't have a field day as well. Of course, since "Immoral Tales" first appeared movies have become a lot more sexually explicit and yet I happy to say this is a movie that can still provoke outrage today...of one kind or another.

Four erotic tales, three set as period pieces, the fourth (actually the first episode in the film) is set in the present day. A young man researches and puts into action a plot to trap his 16-year-old female cousin into giving him head by isolating her on a stretch of beach cut off by the ocean at high tide. The problems are several. The girl obviously doesn't need to be trapped and is more than willing to explore her own sexuality so the cousin's plot is completely unnecessary. She also demonstrates that she's a good swimmer, so she isn't really trapped. He also seems to be kind of short sighted since Borowczyk's cuts from close ups of the girl's face to her vagina demonstrate her curiosity at his limited objectives. Silly really.

'Therese Philosophe' concerns a pious girl punished for something by being locked in her bedroom "for three days", she seems intent on biding her time putting a cucumber to a non-digestive use while reading. This was the most disappointing episode for me because the only reason I tracked down and bought the DVD was because I saw the wonderful erotic potential of Charlotte Alexandra in "Une vraie jeune fille". She's wasted here.

'Erzsebet Bathory' is a sixteenth-century countess who travels to various villages setting up job fairs to recruit young girls into service in her household. Her pitch is that she pays more than the king. That her recruiters have to drag the young girls from their homes kicking and screaming might bear testament to the fact that none of her previous 'employees' were ever seen again. She also seems to have bizarre bathing habits.

'Lucrezia Borgia' chronicles Pope Alexander VI's pursuit of family values by swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool with his daughter Lucrezia and her brother Cesare. Everyone lives happily ever after (except that heretic Savonarola). This was actually the most erotic of the four, but I'd rather watch Debbie do anybody...or Miss Elizabeth Bennet for that matter!

The only thing noteworthy about this film is that supposedly it was the first porn flic to rise above the miasma onto the radar screens of the mainstream media. Actually I would have guessed that that distinction would have fallen to a Radly Metzger film, but my love of baseball statistics and trivia doesn't extend to porn films so I won't bother to look it up.

Four tales from various historical eras. The first, 'The Tide', is set in the present day, and concerns a student and his young female cousin stranded on the beach by the tide, secluded from prying eyes. 'Therese Philosophe' is set in the nineteenth century, and concerns a girl being locked in her bedroom, where she contemplates the erotic potential of the objects contained within it. 'Erzsebet Bathory' is a portrait of the sixteenth-century countess who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins, while 'Lucrezia Borgia' concerns an incestuous fifteenth-century orgy involving Lucrezia, her brother, and her father the Pope.

Such a crazy film. From the very plot synopsis, you might think this was something like Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted To Know". I mean, heck, these are vignettes about unusual sexual practices, right? But the intent is clearly different. Allen was being funny and not all that risqué.

This film, on the other hand, has almost no humor and seems to be made for one purpose: to put as many nude women in one film as humanly possible. Granted, it is still a good film in some ways and has an artistic merit. It is not pornographic. But seeing as a similar film could have been made with only a fraction of the nudity, it is clear what the intention was.

Contes Immoraux/Immoral Tales(1974) is an erotic series of short films that opens with "The Tide". This first tale is about a young girl who is taught by her cousin about the connection between sex and the highest peak of a water wave. The story is average and is the least interesting. This tale is about how sex and intellectual thinking can go hand to hand. About how sex and the idea of sexual contact is thought up by the middle class.

The second tale in the film is one of the two best tales in this sensual anthology. Its about a sexually repressed young woman that discovers her urges through her religion beliefs. Charlotte Alexandra who plays the sex hungry woman is excellent in the role as well as absolutely breathtaking and arousing. She finds her sexual pleasure through fantasies of sex and self sex using vegetables. The story is about a woman's yearning to be independant and feminine.

The tale telling of the Countess Elisabeth Bathory is the best story. It takes place during the final hours of the countess before her arrest at the orders of the king. The story takes a shot at the government structure by showing its self indulgence and absolute corruption. Elisabeth Bathory was not a vampire in the traditional sense. First, she was still alive and did not suck blood. Paloma Picasso, daughter of the fame artist is wonderful in the role of the infamous countess(interestingly, when she is arrested the kings men put a suit on her that reminds me of the prisoner's arrest suit in Brazil).

The next and final tale is about one of the most scandalous moments in the 20th Century. It features a shocking menage a trois that is very bold to view. The story is about the love affair between Lucrezia Borgia and her father, the pope plus another man. The sex sequences are disturbing and shocking. This story is very powerful in its depiction of religious corruption.

Passollini without the brutality. That is to say, provocatively sexual, without the darkest elements overwhelming the stories.

In the spirit of "I'll try anything once", I watched my first Walerian Borowczyk film; it is also probably going to be my last. His brand of pseudo-arty, antiseptic, plotless soft-core porn is totally not my cup of tea (besides, we already have Jess Franco for that). The first story is the best, because it's at least the most honest; the worst is probably the third, in which the shower scenes go on for what seems like three centuries. * out of 4.

This is Borowczyk at his worst, even worse than the other two Borowczyk films I've seen. It is astonishing that the four tales can be packed with beautiful, naked women and still be so boring. Borowczyk does have the ability to portray graphic scenes beautifully, and the tale about Elizabeth Bathory is particularly beautifully shot - and it is the only one with a recognizable story.

The other three tales are just very, very boring, with discreet and unerotic sex scenes and no real characters, only stereotypes. The first tale, set in the present day, involves some indulgent rubbish linking tides and fellatio. The second links cucumbers and saintliness (I think!)and I lost the point of the last completely, other than that it involved Lucrezia Borgia and the pope. Give it a miss.

Even by 1999 standards, there are moments in this film that would still be considered fairly controversial. Unfortunately, once you get past a few surprising scenes and the FREQUENT nudity, this is just a so-so movie at best, with several dull stretches. There just wasn't enough going on to keep me interested after a while, especially during the first and last segments, which were heavy on the dialogue but not the least bit entertaining. Don't waste your time on this one.

1973, the heydays of porn. The heydays of softcore. This is a perfect example. Be aware, it takes you back that females are in the flesh to spot with hair on every part were it could be so for some that could be shocking. There's a close-up of a hairy armpit...

Nevertheless, still nowadays it could be shocking due the content. Short stories like for example Bathory, weel, you could easily spot were that is going. Other stories do involve religion and is still offending for some.

But the weirdest one is La Bete. Sexual actions with a beast trying to rape a woman but things turn the other way when the beast and the woman are having fun together. Very strange to watch.

To watch it completely therefor nowadays it's too slow but still, if you want to see what in the seventies were normal to film go watch it,

Gore 0/5 Nudity 4/5 Effects 0/5 Story 1,5/5 Comedy 0/5

Bathory (the Countess not the black metal group) gets a doing here.

And doing she gets.

She lives among her naked ladies of the castle as they serve her in every way possible.

The story was hard to follow despite the many points it made. And I do agree, it says a lot about today as well.

The art direction and cinematography were both excellent. But the pace crept a bit too slow. It seemed as if they were padding it out as much as possible.

But the young lasses looked FABulous naked. And they were naked most of the time too.

Great looking film, but if you get more out of it, good on you.

Interesting exploration on erotism, that tell four tales of 'immoralities', casually plenties of sex. However, it is interesting the focus on the corruption of governors and religious people. And visually is very well-done. I think that it has no dialogue at all. Interesting. How it could be better? Well, there are a lot of naked women, but i think that some women of a potential public would be interested in more naked men. Who knows? 7/10

An intriguing and provocative series of erotic tales that challenge traditional notions of arthouse cinema by blending erotica with drama and poignant social commentary.

Directed by Walerian Borowczyk and co-written with André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Contes immoraux is an anthology consisting of five episodes in its original version: "La marée" is based on a story by André Pieyre de Mandiargues and follows twenty-year-old André (Fabrice Luchini) taking his sixteen-year-old cousin Julie (Lise Danvers) to educate her about "the mysteries of the tides."; "Thérèse Philosophe" is based on the novel of the same name from 1748 and takes place in 1890, where Thérèse (Charlotte Alexandra), a pious sexually precocious teenage, finds in her surrounding religious artifacts vehicles to express her sexual desire after being locked in her room at the convent where she lives; In "La bête," set in 1765, Romilda (Sirpa Lane), an aristocratic lady, tries to escape from a monster, the beast of Gevaudan, that, unbeknownst to her, does not want to kill her; "Erzsébet Báthory" follows the notorious Hungarian countess, played by Paloma Picasso, in 1610, who was thought to have murdered hundreds of girls with her servants; An intimate reveal of affection set in 1498 between "Lucrezia Borgia," played by Florence Bellamy, her father, Pope Alexander VI (Jacopo Berinizi), and her brother, Caesar Borgia (Lorenzo Berinizi).

Walerian Borowczyk's feature starts with a quote about love from François de La Rochefoucauld in his Maximes: "Love, with all its pleasure, becomes even more blissful through the way it is expressed." The film effectively conceptualizes the idea of said words in its search for the physicality of love and its expression in various manners. By channeling a constant lascivious gaze, it is easy to find sexual symbolism in everything, from cucumbers to the waves of the ocean. A decision that sometimes renders the experience a dense one by its prevailing interest in nudity and sex over storytelling. Due to their iconoclast nature and depiction of teratophilia, incest, blasphemy, and unlawful ways, these reifications of love could be broadly considered to be immoral. An immorality that is never depicted in a light fashion, on the contrary, it is shown in its most provocative way throughout the five segments. Its juxtaposition with the progression of the film and its regression through the centuries is also seen in the nature of each episode, as it furthers its provocative message as it progresses. When you think it is shocking enough, Borowczyk manages to surprise you by going much further, many times reaching the grotesque with a lax concept of eroticism that sometimes also borders pornography, especially in La bête, where the close-ups of the phallus and the fluids render that segment something that can be seen but not unseen. Nonetheless, it could also be said that the word "immoraux" is used not as a value judgment but as the depiction of mores pertaining to the private life. In this sense, by illustrating what constitutes a relativistic morality, the most provoking aspect of Walerian Borowczyk's anthology is not its depiction of homosexuality, rape, mass murder, incest, and polyamorousness, but its bold commentary about morality and how it is the monopoly of no one.

Contes immoraux offers the possibility to see the only time Paloma Picasso, daughter of artists Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot, acted in a film. This should say enough as to why it is considered to be an art film. Despite its outright erotic nature, it is a movie with beautiful cinematography, one evoking the grace and luxury of bygone eras. A dream-like atmosphere bathes each of the stories as the product of its cinematography, the enchanting sets, and mostly by reason of the musique originale by Maurice Le Roux that successfully captivates the aura.

This movie was the finest of Walerian Borowczyk, and I know that this was one of his most Erotic and sexy, and I know that there was a dream scene from the movie. La Bête and I love that; I know that this movie is not for children, and there was a family in the final story known as the Borgia, and I love it because of this movie. It is very sexy and disgusting, I love it because it is hard to find that this movie still exists, and one thing that I want to watch is La Bête. And this movie is very, very, very perfect for me to watch this infamous movie, and sometime I will watch another masterpiece La Bête.

Walerian Borowczyk, a filmmaker renowned for his provocative cinematic language, was often described by contemporary critics as "a genius who also dabbles in pornography." Among his extensive filmography, spanning both France and his native Poland, his 1973 French anthology film, "Contes immoraux" (Immoral Tales), is widely considered his most explicit work. It delves into four erotic-themed stories exploring the loss of virginity, masturbation, bloodlust, and incest, challenging the viewer's preconceptions and doing so with remarkable effectiveness.

Borowczyk, a master of unsettling and often surreal imagery, leaves an indelible mark on the audience's psyche. While his cinematic style may not resonate with everyone, his ability to provoke thought and challenge societal norms is undeniable. Thanks to Mubi, several of his films, now in restored versions, are available for viewing, offering a glimpse into the mind of this controversial and undeniably talented filmmaker.

Even if Borowczyk's aesthetic isn't entirely to my taste, I cannot deny the artistic merit of his work. His films are a testament to the power of cinema to push boundaries, challenge taboos, and explore the darker corners of the human experience. They may not be easy viewing, but they are undeniably impactful, leaving a lasting impression on those who dare to venture into his world.

Okay, okay... 1974. The Europeans have figured out that a world-wide audience exists for films that portray full-frontal nudity, regardless of storyline or context. Borowczyk has chosen four stories from four eras to flaunt some skin... the 1970s right back to the 1400s. He takes the cake, however, with the third segment, featuring Pablo's daughter Paloma Picasso: she plays a countess in the 1700s bent on preserving her youth and vitality by bathing in the blood of virgins. To get this far, we are treated to the most incredible series of visuals ever filmed! At least thirty young, beautiful, and (gasp!) very naked women are brought forward to shower, cavort, pray, play with each other, and perform some sort of ritual that leads to their demise. You will watch the whole film, but you will come away remembering only this third segment. All the nudity aside, credit Borowczyk and crew for doing a fine job technically and photographically on this film. Definitely worth seeing.

This extraordinary film has been sadly misunderstood by many for a simple reason: it is an erotic film that doesn't intend to turn you on. Rather, it is a display of sexual transgression throughout the ages told in reverse order. Each of the four chapters of Immoral Tales takes place further back in history, with the acts committed getting increasingly transgressive. The first is modern, containing semi-consensual sex between a cruel boy and his cousin. The second features religious-fixated masturbation and rape, the third lesbianism and murder, the fourth is an incestuous story of the Pope containing torture and murder, along with threesome sex. The final scene of the film is the baptism of the child of the Pope and his daughter: the androgynous baby is bathed in a radiant light as it stares into the camera, reminding us that the felonies of the fathers lead through the ages to bring about our sexual misdemeanors. Although Im. Tales is quite explicit (but still softcore, Borowczyk only did a little hardcore work) and may be arousing, but is hardly a skin flick. The compositions are too painterly (Borowczyk was a successful painter and animator before turning to film), the action too slow and morally ambiguous to get too worked up over without intellectual involvement. Borowczyk is my favorite European erotic filmmaker, and equal to Radley Metzger from a global standpoint. Contes Immoraux (Im. Tales) and Le Bete (the Beast) are his most accessible films, and a great starting point. My personal favorite is his version of Dr. Jekyll, which goes by several titles. Watch this film if you want to think about sex and your relation to the subject, not if you are just looking for a good item for foreplay.

I had the opportunity to review this film when it was released on DVD about 9-10 years ago. Although the IMDb was in its infancy at the time, I read about the film before reviewing it. I found this to be an interesting guide to morals and values.

Walerian Borowczyk is one of Europe's most controversial filmmakers. I had heard that Immoral Tales, the English title of Contes Immoraux or Unmoralische Geschichten, was not too much different than most of his other work. Borowczyk has also directed many sexually themed movies, including two parts of the erotically charged Emmanuelle series.

Bordering on the thin line between hardcore and soft-core pornography, Immoral Tales is a film that leaves you guilty and shocked. Not many films include two forms of incest, masturbation with a vegetable, the killing of naked virgins for their blood, and sex at the Vatican. Interestingly enough, the last two parts of the movie are supposedly true! It is extremely hard to put a film like Immoral Tales into words. Shocking in some spots, yet artistically titillating in others, the movie is paced too slowly in spots. This could be Polish director's Walerian Borowczyk's preferred style, but the film drags on and on with excess. I was able to get over the two cousins having sex in the first act, but the English translation certainly could have been better worded. Eight minutes of a young girl doing odd things with a cucumber after reading the bible is just a little more than I needed to see.

Even so, this film is a delight for anyone who has considered himself or herself voyeuristic. When the viewer sees over twenty underage naked teenage girls running around (Erzsébet Bathory)... Let's just say it is hard to describe. Lucrezia Borgia is almost ceremonious at times, and shows the baptism of Lucrezia's incestuous child. Unfortunately, some of the shots are gratuitous at best, and although this film can be great in spots, it fails in others.

Definitely worth seeing, but certainly for those who are open minded and don't mind the various actions that happen on screen. Although I rated it lower when originally reviewing it, I rate it higher after multiple viewings.

With another round of Roman Catholic sex scandals making the headlines, this movie seems as timely as ever. It very graphically, although rarely explicitly, details the facade of piety that hides the sexual debauchery of the Holy Roman Empire.

The lavish sets and excellent cinematography also heighten the overall sensuousness of these "immoral" tales.

Many gorgeous, supermodel types going completely nude also adds the needed touch of licentiousness to the proceedings.

No doubt, this is a seventies classic.

Immoral Tales consists of four stories, each of feminine eroticism through the ages. They work back through time, beginning with a contemporary surrealist story of a 20-year-old man initiating his cousin in a sex act on the beach, timing his ecstasy to the ebb and flow of the waves. In the second story, Charlotte Alexandra stars as a girl whose dedication to God reveals itself as a burning lust when she is unjustly banished to her room for three days. The Countess Bathory episode – starring Paloma Picasso – is largely the study of liquids on flesh, while the final story follows a visit by Lucrezia Borgia to see her father Pope Alexander VI and brother Cardinal Cesare Borgia, and details the bawdiness that follows. The second tale is by the far the most erotic. Elsewhere the film is a little slow – but well worth seeing.

Walerian Borowczyk is best known for his 1975 sleaze flick 'The Beast', and with that film in mind; I don't think I was unjustified going into this one expecting some bizarre pornography. However, it turns out that isn't what this film is at all; it's actually 'erotica', which is unfortunately not so interesting. Sure there's plenty of hot female nudity, but it's all really slow and barely erotic in the slightest. As the title suggests, this film depicts 'tales' which are immoral; and there are four in total. The first is very simple but nicely put together. We follow a pair of cousins stuck on a beach together by the tide. The older and more sexually experienced of the pair sees it as an opportunity to teach the younger a thing or two. This story is not particularly impressive on the substance front; it's very short and not a lot happens, but it is really beautifully shot and anyone that appreciates good looking cinema will surely find something to like about it.

I figured the first tale would be just a taster since it is so short, but unfortunately things go downhill from there and the second tale is the worst of the four. It takes on a period setting and basically just follows a young woman locked in her bedroom. Again, the cinematography is nice (though none of the locations are anything like as good as the beach in tale one) but the tale itself drags on too long to approaching anything like what I would call 'erotica'. The film is slightly redeemed by tale number three; which is by far the best of the bunch. Elizabeth Bathory has featured in cinema a few times; though not often enough. This tale again is slow and beautiful but the story actually holds some interest and Paloma Picasso's perfect naked figure emerging from a bath is blood is likely to be the only thing I will go on to remember about this film. I figured that if the fourth tale could match the third then the film would be a success overall; but unfortunately it's a turgid affair and doesn't compliment the penultimate story as well as I'd hoped. Split into four we have one good story, one decent one and two weak ones...not enough to recommend the film for unfortunately.