Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Immoral Tales

Original title: Contes immoraux
  • 1973
  • Not Rated
  • 2h 5m
IMDb RATING
5.6/10
6.1K
YOUR RATING
Lise Danvers and Fabrice Luchini in Immoral Tales (1973)
Trailer for Immoral Tales
Play trailer1:02
2 Videos
73 Photos
Period DramaSteamy RomanceDramaRomance

An erotic collection of short stories, an anthology comprised of tantalizing tales about sexual desire and its diverse manifestations.An erotic collection of short stories, an anthology comprised of tantalizing tales about sexual desire and its diverse manifestations.An erotic collection of short stories, an anthology comprised of tantalizing tales about sexual desire and its diverse manifestations.

  • Director
    • Walerian Borowczyk
  • Writers
    • Walerian Borowczyk
    • André Pieyre de Mandiargues
  • Stars
    • Lise Danvers
    • Fabrice Luchini
    • Charlotte Alexandra
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.6/10
    6.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Walerian Borowczyk
    • Writers
      • Walerian Borowczyk
      • André Pieyre de Mandiargues
    • Stars
      • Lise Danvers
      • Fabrice Luchini
      • Charlotte Alexandra
    • 33User reviews
    • 71Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos2

    Immoral Tales
    Trailer 1:02
    Immoral Tales
    Immoral Tales OFFICIAL TRAILER
    Trailer 1:02
    Immoral Tales OFFICIAL TRAILER
    Immoral Tales OFFICIAL TRAILER
    Trailer 1:02
    Immoral Tales OFFICIAL TRAILER

    Photos73

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 67
    View Poster

    Top cast18

    Edit
    Lise Danvers
    • Julie (segment "La Marée")
    Fabrice Luchini
    Fabrice Luchini
    • André (segment "La Marée")
    Charlotte Alexandra
    • Thérèse (segment "Thérèse Philosophe")
    Paloma Picasso
    • Erzsébet (segment "Erzsébet Báthory")
    Pascale Christophe
    • Istvan (segment "Erzsébet Báthory")
    Florence Bellamy
    • Lucrezia Borgia (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Jacopo Berinizi
    • Le pape Alexandre VI (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Lorenzo Berinizi
    • Le cardinal Cèsare Borgia (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Nicole Karen
    • (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Tomas Hnevsa
    • (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    • (as Thomas Hnevsa)
    Mathieu Rivolier
    Mathieu Rivolier
    • (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Robert Capia
    • (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Gerard Tcherka
    • (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Kjell Gustavsson
    • (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Philippe Desboeuf
    • Friar Hyeronimus Savonarola (segment "Lucrezia Borgia")
    Florence Dauman
    • Hungarian Girl (segment "Erzsébet Báthory")
    • (uncredited)
    Marie Forså
    Marie Forså
    • Silver Blonde in Close-Up (segment "Erzsébet Báthory")
    • (uncredited)
    Sirpa Lane
    Sirpa Lane
    • Romilda (segment "La Bête")
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Walerian Borowczyk
    • Writers
      • Walerian Borowczyk
      • André Pieyre de Mandiargues
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews33

    5.66.1K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    3gridoon2025

    These tales may be immoral but they're also really, really dull

    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.
    7gavin6942

    Some Crazy European Stuff

    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.
    7MOscarbradley

    A sex movie for the intelligentsia

    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.
    5bill-987

    I'd rather watch Debbie...or Miss Elizabeth Bennet for that matter!

    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.
    8jvanderkammer

    This HAS to be some kind of record!

    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.

    More like this

    The Beast
    5.7
    The Beast
    Blanche
    6.5
    Blanche
    The Story of Sin
    6.1
    The Story of Sin
    Goto: Island of Love
    6.5
    Goto: Island of Love
    Immoral Women
    5.1
    Immoral Women
    The Margin
    5.2
    The Margin
    Rosalie
    6.8
    Rosalie
    A Real Young Girl
    5.3
    A Real Young Girl
    The Voyeur
    5.5
    The Voyeur
    First Desires
    4.5
    First Desires
    Behind Convent Walls
    4.8
    Behind Convent Walls
    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne
    6.1
    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The original version screened in 1974 was made up of five, not four episodes. Borowczyk removed one episode, 'The True Story of the Beast of Gevaudan', and expanded it to feature length as The Beast (1975). In 2010, a print of the original short film of 'The True Story of the Beast of Gevaudan' was discovered in a French archive. The uncut version was shown at New Horizons Film Festival in Poland on 24th of July 2013, and subsequeny included on the 2014 Arrow Blu-ray release.
    • Quotes

      Julie: Since last summer, I have met five boys.

      André: What do you mean you "met" them?

      Julie: We'd meet.

      André: Where?

      Julie: At parties. We kissed.

      André: And that's all?

      Julie: Yes.

      André: On the lips?

      Julie: No, Mum was always nearby.

      André: Untouched. Thanks to my aunt. But today, she is far away...

    • Crazy credits
      The film opens with this quote:

      "L'amour, tout agréable qu'il est, plaìt encore plus par le maniéres dont il se montre que par lui-méme." La Rochefoucauld (Maximes)
    • Alternate versions
      As indicated in the trivia section, the original version screened in 1974 was made up of five, not four episodes, running at 2h 5m. Borowczyk removed one episode, 'The True Story of the Beast of Gevaudan / La Bête', and expanded it to feature length as La bête (1975). In 2010, a print of the original short film of 'La Bête' was discovered in a French archive. The uncut version was shown at New Horizons Film Festival in Poland on 24th of July 2013, and subsequently included on the 2014 Arrow Blu-ray release.
    • Connections
      Edited into The Beast (1975)
    • Soundtracks
      La Messe de Notre-Dame
      Guillaume de Machaut

      disque ARCHIV PRODUKTION

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ14

    • How long is Immoral Tales?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 28, 1974 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Languages
      • French
      • Italian
      • Hungarian
    • Also known as
      • Cuentos inmorales
    • Production companies
      • Argos Films
      • Syn-Frank Enterprises
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 5m(125 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.