Ligia Branice as the title character in BLANCHE.
Autumn 1969 edition of SIGHT & SOUND, together with a collection of contemporary reviews. GOTO had been released in Britain with an X certificate by Contemporary Films in October 1969, with Richard Roud in THE GUARDIAN enjoying “
...its strange mix- ture of rigorous austerity in form and the baroque extravagance of the material.”
The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with mono 1.0 audio and optional En- glish subtitles, and it looks particularly fine consid- ering the loss of the original negative, so this 2K restoration has been sourced from an original 35mm fine grain positive and a 35mm duplicate negative element.
Borowczyk’s reputation as a filmmaker of merit would increase further still with his next fea- ture, BLANCHE, released by Contemporary Films with an AA certificate in the UK in May 1973, two years after its British premiere at the London Film Festival. Adapted from the poem “Mazepa” (1839) by the Polish poet Juliusz Slowacki but with the setting transposed to the France of the Middle Ages, BLANCHE tells the tragic tale of the title character (Ligia Branice), married to a consider- ably older man, the uxorious Master (Michel Simon in one of his last roles). Blanche is the object of desire for not only her husband but his son Nicolas (Lawrence Trimble), who can barely conceal his affections for her.
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The family are first seen preparing for the visit to their castle by the King (Georges Wilson) and his page-boy Bartolomeo (Jacques Perrin), a no- torious philandering youth. Bartolomeo wastes little time in attempting to seduce the chaste and pure Blanche, which leads to her stepson acci- dentally wounding the King with his sword when he mistakes him for his page. The King had bor- rowed Bartolomeo’s cloak in order to pass through the grounds unrecognized, yet he is well aware of his page’s reputation, so decides not to pursue the matter officially. “Send the puppet away at once,” suggests the Master, going on to describe his wife as a saintly person above suspicion. The King agrees, and sends Bartolomeo to court with letters. However, the page discovers the King’s true intentions (he too has revealed his feelings to Blanche). Nicolas challenges Bartolomeo to a duel in the forest beyond the castle walls, but the roguish page declines as he understands that Nicolas’ anger is borne out of jealousy rather than parental concern. “Believe me, your love can lead to tragedy,” he presciently announces. Bartolomeo returns to the castle and secretes himself in an alcove in Blanche’s chamber while the Master’s servants search for him in the grounds outside. The Master demands that the alcove be bricked up, and this act of imprison- ment within a prison sets in motion a series of events which ultimately destroy the family.
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