I had first watched Metzger’s most mainstream film, the Richard Gordon-produced all-star remake of the venerable horror classic THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1979); while in Hollywood early last year I rented his most highly-regarded film, the porn classic THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN (1976).
This one’s pretty much on the same level of the latter film, however, and about as graphic (which makes its DVD availability through a respectable albeit cult-oriented label like Synapse a surprising but certainly courageous move on their part). If anything, despite its analogous surface chic, the plot of THE IMAGE – adapted from a novel by Jean de Berg who, allegedly, was really Catherine Robbe-Grillet (wife of novelist/film-maker Alain Robbe-Grillet) – is darker and more intriguing!
It also benefits from concentrating on the perverse antics of its central trio and rarely involves other characters; situations are clearly identified by intermittent chapter headings and plot development is usually restricted to voice-over delivered by the male lead – though all of this eventually leads to repetition (which is, perhaps, inevitable in sex films)! Again, the music emerges to be a major asset, as are the attractive Parisian locations (though, here, Metzger plays a little too obviously with phallic symbols!). As was the case with STORY OF O (1975), too, the female casting is dead-on but the male lead is rather bland (the director clearly saw other attributes in him).
The best scenes here would be: the young girl’s humiliation in a public garden by her demanding mistress, the first intense sexual encounter among the protagonists, the equally arousing three-way fling in the booth of a lingerie shop involving the younger members of the depraved trio and a sexy salesgirl, and the excruciating climactic bondage in the so-called Gothic Chamber. Other scenes in which the sex is carried out in a subtle manner but in full view of the public (including one where the young girl’s private parts are stuffed with food by her companions!) don’t work so well. The ending, too, is a disappointment: the women, suddenly and inexplicably, turn on the man – after which the young girl leaves for good; the older woman eventually visits the man at his house and the two make love for the first time (which suggests that he had wanted her all along, despite his statement to the contrary at the very start of the picture!).
This one’s pretty much on the same level of the latter film, however, and about as graphic (which makes its DVD availability through a respectable albeit cult-oriented label like Synapse a surprising but certainly courageous move on their part). If anything, despite its analogous surface chic, the plot of THE IMAGE – adapted from a novel by Jean de Berg who, allegedly, was really Catherine Robbe-Grillet (wife of novelist/film-maker Alain Robbe-Grillet) – is darker and more intriguing!
It also benefits from concentrating on the perverse antics of its central trio and rarely involves other characters; situations are clearly identified by intermittent chapter headings and plot development is usually restricted to voice-over delivered by the male lead – though all of this eventually leads to repetition (which is, perhaps, inevitable in sex films)! Again, the music emerges to be a major asset, as are the attractive Parisian locations (though, here, Metzger plays a little too obviously with phallic symbols!). As was the case with STORY OF O (1975), too, the female casting is dead-on but the male lead is rather bland (the director clearly saw other attributes in him).
The best scenes here would be: the young girl’s humiliation in a public garden by her demanding mistress, the first intense sexual encounter among the protagonists, the equally arousing three-way fling in the booth of a lingerie shop involving the younger members of the depraved trio and a sexy salesgirl, and the excruciating climactic bondage in the so-called Gothic Chamber. Other scenes in which the sex is carried out in a subtle manner but in full view of the public (including one where the young girl’s private parts are stuffed with food by her companions!) don’t work so well. The ending, too, is a disappointment: the women, suddenly and inexplicably, turn on the man – after which the young girl leaves for good; the older woman eventually visits the man at his house and the two make love for the first time (which suggests that he had wanted her all along, despite his statement to the contrary at the very start of the picture!).