The Love Life of the Octopus

Original title: Les amours de la pieuvre

1967
13m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

575

YOUR RATING

Documentary Short

An octopus slithers into a narrow crack near the shore; we see its eye up close; blowing water propels it through water. It feeds on a crab. In spring it's time to mate. A male grabs a femal... Read allAn octopus slithers into a narrow crack near the shore; we see its eye up close; blowing water propels it through water. It feeds on a crab. In spring it's time to mate. A male grabs a female; he inserts his third arm in her respiratory cavity. We watch another pair: a larger fem... Read allAn octopus slithers into a narrow crack near the shore; we see its eye up close; blowing water propels it through water. It feeds on a crab. In spring it's time to mate. A male grabs a female; he inserts his third arm in her respiratory cavity. We watch another pair: a larger female is the aggressor here. Mating is repeated over hours and days. With high magnification... Read all

Directors
- Geneviève Hamon
- Jean Painlevé

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

575

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Geneviève Hamon
- Jean Painlevé

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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User reviews3

Review

Featured review

8/10

Eight Arms to Hold You

Thirty years after he first had an octopus slither over a sleeping woman in DEVIL FISH, Painlevé returns to the subject, with sound and beautiful color photography --- well, it would be beautiful, if it weren't for the fact they're octopuses, Painlevé's narration is dark and scary in tone and Pierre Henry's score is creepy. I'd say it's standard for him, but nothing he did was standard.

Like many of his shorts, this one concerns itself with the peculiarities of his subject, and in particular, its reproduction. I'm not going to go into details -- the IMDb has warned me about frank and accurate language before, particularly when it involves words with precisely four letters in them -- but if you want to learn about the octopus, this is a good film for it.