Immoral Tales (1974)

One of my all time favorites.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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.

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.

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.

At first when I rented this movie I thought it was going to be one of those kinda boring old movies but still interesting, but it turned out to be a soft porno old movie just as boring. The first story is about a dumb fella who wants an oral over-haul on a seemingly damn cold bay. The second one is about a girl who likes to play with a cucumber on a very odd way. The third one is about lots of girls running around naked and maybe a little more, but since when the movie was about the half of the third story, me and my girl became so bored that we decided to make love instead of trying to understand how the director could make sex stories so boring (I know I have abused of the word "bore", but it was DAMN BORING!), we didn't watch that story and payed attention until the last story where we just saw a guy on a Pope disguise having his way with the supposedly Borgia girl up, down and from behind. Well, it was, in a single word, BORING. (Hope my language wasn't too strong) }:)