I could just imagine director Walerian Borowczyk giggling behind the camera at how his film skewers and jabs Catholicism(..preferably priests, hinting at their lascivious secrets)and graphic displays of bestiality with this hairy beast banging a duchess in the dreams of a wealthy heiress, Lucy Broadhurst(Lisbeth Hummel). Pulling no punches and knowing no boundaries, Borowczyk allows the viewer to watch a grand display of this monstrous beast's semen oozing pecker, growing longer as it sets it's horny sights on this poor female running for her life in the wilderness, attempting to escape. Throwing caution to the wind, we watch as the beast rips away her clothes until the woman is almost completely naked, before positioning her and engaging. Then, the icing on the cake is her beginning to enjoy it. Folks, this kind of sequence obviously isn't for the easily offended and is as tasteless and raw as my description sounds. Lucy, having the dream about this encounter, gets so worked up she wishes to have sexual intercourse with the man she plans to wed, a pagan named Mathurin(Pierre Benedetti) whose "true nature" will soon be revealed at the end after a tragedy opens up a secret that has plagued the I'Esperance family for two centuries. Through a book created by a member of the I'Esperance, a (in)famous duchess, the Marquis(Marcel Dalin) of the I'Esperance manor for which Mathurin lives with his overbearing father Pierre(Guy Tréjan)introduces Lucy to the tale of her vanquishing of a beast. Inside a case, the Marquis even shows Lucy and her Aunt Virginia(Elisabeth Kaza)a torn piece of clothing, worn by the duchess, with claw marks. Through this knowledge comes the dream which comes to Lucy that night, with her so heated by the experience she is overwhelmed with ecstasy, watering down her naked body(underneath a see-through, thin gown)eventually masturbating with a rose! Is the dream Lucy has a real ordeal? Does this ordeal plague the I'Esperance family? The film shows how Pierre awaits the Cardinal's seal of approval for Lucy and Mathurin to wed(..this is needed if Pierre's son is to become tied to her inheritance)while a local perish priest(..and his choir boys, for which he keeps VERY close to him)hangs around ready for his part in carrying out the marriage. But, certain circumstances will possibly throw a kink in the works for Pierre can never truly escape his family's past mistake.
Besides the graphically displayed sexual sequence of a beast ravaging a female, there's the opening scene of Mathurin watching, almost in a hypnotic state, as a male horse, hung, is guided into the "breathing" vagina of a female horse. You have the local perish priest, and his affectionate display for his two male choir boys(..always having them nearby with his arm around one or even kissing another). You have the Cardinal finally arriving, finding a photo Lucy took of the male and female horse mating, slipping it into his pocket. You have Lisbeth Hummel's rose masturbation and long stretches with her buck naked, yearning for the warm embrace of a man. So much is here, I felt, to shock it's audience into a frenzy. I think there's a specific audience who'll really enjoy this(..even aroused, maybe), but I'm not the biggest fan of watching horses copulating, or some beast ravaging a woman. But, for a film with such shocking material, it's so well made, I can't say it doesn't have it's technical merits. This film is so audacious and daring, I must admit that it's the kind of cult film certain to gain admirers along the way. I will finish by saying that the director goes out of his way to plant a continuing image in the viewer's mind, the stiff, semen oozing penis of the beast as it pursues the female victim.
Besides the graphically displayed sexual sequence of a beast ravaging a female, there's the opening scene of Mathurin watching, almost in a hypnotic state, as a male horse, hung, is guided into the "breathing" vagina of a female horse. You have the local perish priest, and his affectionate display for his two male choir boys(..always having them nearby with his arm around one or even kissing another). You have the Cardinal finally arriving, finding a photo Lucy took of the male and female horse mating, slipping it into his pocket. You have Lisbeth Hummel's rose masturbation and long stretches with her buck naked, yearning for the warm embrace of a man. So much is here, I felt, to shock it's audience into a frenzy. I think there's a specific audience who'll really enjoy this(..even aroused, maybe), but I'm not the biggest fan of watching horses copulating, or some beast ravaging a woman. But, for a film with such shocking material, it's so well made, I can't say it doesn't have it's technical merits. This film is so audacious and daring, I must admit that it's the kind of cult film certain to gain admirers along the way. I will finish by saying that the director goes out of his way to plant a continuing image in the viewer's mind, the stiff, semen oozing penis of the beast as it pursues the female victim.