Immoral Tales
1974 · 2h 5m · Drama, Romance
This is provocative art-house cinema with genuine critical respect (75% RT), but the 5.6 IMDb score signals it's deeply divisive and not crowd-pleasing—skip it unless you're specifically seeking transgressive European erotic cinema from the 1970s. If that's your jam, absolutely watch it; if you want something entertaining tonight, move on.
Plot
Four erotic tales from various historical eras. The first, 'The Tide', is set in the present day, and concerns a student and his young female cousin stranded on the beach by the tide, secluded from prying eyes. 'Therese Philosophe' is set in the nineteenth century, and concerns a girl being locked in her bedroom, where she contemplates the erotic potential of the objects contained within it. 'Erzsebet Bathory' is a portrait of the sixteenth-century countess who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins, while 'Lucrezia Borgia' concerns an incestuous fifteenth-century orgy involving Lucrezia, her brother, and her father the Pope.
Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Cast: Lise Danvers, Fabrice Luchini, Charlotte Alexandra, Lisbeth Hummel, Paloma Picasso