Having read all the user comments regarding "La Matriarca" (1968), I am dumbfounded that none of the readers -- NOT ONE -- cared to mention what I consider its KEY SCENE. There have been six (6) user comments for this film before mine, and all of them discuss the sexual kinks in it; certainly there are plenty of those. But nobody seems to want to talk about the cathartic scene, where Jean Louis Trintignant puts Mimi (Catherine Spaak) over his knee and spanks her as if she were a naughty little girl.
That spanking is purgative for Mimi. It releases her from her sexual inhibitions and her desire to dominate men as she feels she was dominated by her late husband. She and Dr. DeMarchi (Trintignant) realize their love for each other, and they marry. Her sexual adventurism is a thing of the past, as they settle down together.
But all of the user comments were written in the 21st century, and were no doubt influenced by the prevailing feminist moral code. It is now considered ungentlemanly to spank a grown woman, in spite of the fact that for hundreds of years before the current era, spankings were common and generally accepted by the public. A large number of mainstream films attest to that sensibility.
At any rate, "La Matriarca" (known in the U.S. as "The Libertine") gives us a delicious show of what happens when a young and beautiful woman becomes a widow and then discovers that her late husband had kept a love nest where he spent time with other women and unleashed his sadistic instincts.
The home movies she finds in that apartment -- where all the walls and ceilings are made of mirrors -- show women being whipped, punched, beaten, and subjected to numerous unimaginable humiliations. NONE of those humiliations, however, include spanking. That would be too tame.
But not too tame for Dr. DeMarchi, as he realizes that Mimi -- whom he has grown to love -- needs to be purged of the bitterness that is poisoning her life. He proposes marriage to Mimi, but she doesn't say yes and she doesn't say no; to help her make up her mind, he puts her over his knee and spanks her. As I said at the outset, that is the key scene of this film. It should not be ignored in future reviews.
By the way: To disabuse you of any thoughts that I might be wrong about considering the spanking as "the key scene," consider buying the DVD. And notice the still that appears repeatedly, every time you try to change the disc features. Yep, it shows Mimi getting spanked. Apparently the disc producers consider that the "key scene" too.
Dan Navarro (daneldorado93@yahoo.com)
That spanking is purgative for Mimi. It releases her from her sexual inhibitions and her desire to dominate men as she feels she was dominated by her late husband. She and Dr. DeMarchi (Trintignant) realize their love for each other, and they marry. Her sexual adventurism is a thing of the past, as they settle down together.
But all of the user comments were written in the 21st century, and were no doubt influenced by the prevailing feminist moral code. It is now considered ungentlemanly to spank a grown woman, in spite of the fact that for hundreds of years before the current era, spankings were common and generally accepted by the public. A large number of mainstream films attest to that sensibility.
At any rate, "La Matriarca" (known in the U.S. as "The Libertine") gives us a delicious show of what happens when a young and beautiful woman becomes a widow and then discovers that her late husband had kept a love nest where he spent time with other women and unleashed his sadistic instincts.
The home movies she finds in that apartment -- where all the walls and ceilings are made of mirrors -- show women being whipped, punched, beaten, and subjected to numerous unimaginable humiliations. NONE of those humiliations, however, include spanking. That would be too tame.
But not too tame for Dr. DeMarchi, as he realizes that Mimi -- whom he has grown to love -- needs to be purged of the bitterness that is poisoning her life. He proposes marriage to Mimi, but she doesn't say yes and she doesn't say no; to help her make up her mind, he puts her over his knee and spanks her. As I said at the outset, that is the key scene of this film. It should not be ignored in future reviews.
By the way: To disabuse you of any thoughts that I might be wrong about considering the spanking as "the key scene," consider buying the DVD. And notice the still that appears repeatedly, every time you try to change the disc features. Yep, it shows Mimi getting spanked. Apparently the disc producers consider that the "key scene" too.
Dan Navarro (daneldorado93@yahoo.com)