Maube the later one read the earlier books and thought "I can do better then that!"
Since I have such an interest in judicial punishments, I looked these up. I read "Lady Good For Nothing," some time ago, or at least the whipping and stocks scene, and don't recall it that well, except it didn't seem particularly graphic.
I was also disappointed at the lack of graphic details.
Agreed. As I recall, the hero of the piece, who is someone of relative importance and influence, happens upon the scene as the young woman is being punished. He interferes, trying to shame the authorities, and the author lectures the reader about how barbaric and hypocritical such punishments were. Yeah, we get it! That's why we love 'em so much!
I've just come across a rather nice clip from "The Institute", in decent HD quality. It's the whipping scene that goes with Jon's screencap #6 -- one of the rare examples of a mainstream whipping with nudity and blood. Not sure what the idea is when all the other women come and lick the blood off her body at the end ...
I really like "Le jeu avec le feu"-- as @Eulalia says, the director's idea of a comedy is very different from Hollywood's. The plot is largely, and deliberately, incomprehensible (a mysterious organisation that kidnaps young women as sex slaves for a luxury fetish brothel, or possibly for ransom, or both) but it has some of the best French actors of the 70s (Philippe Noiret and Jean-Louis Trintignant, along with Sylvia Kristel at the height of her fame), acting completely straight despite their scenes and dialogue often being absurd. Beautifully shot and edited with high production values and (presumably) budget. There is a very nice blu-ray restoration, a rip of which I found online some time ago. French with soft English sub-titles. I've re-encoded the clips below as MP4 in 480p (from 720p MKV) as the files were too large to upload here. Unfortunately, conversion to MP4 stripped the sub-titles. Audio doesn't seem to work when streaming on CF, but is fine if you download the file and play in VLC.
Deborah Foreman was the one who revealed my sadistic instinct many years ago. I realized I was sexually excited during the whipping scene and it was a surpprise. Her facial expressions under the whip were unforgettable and from that day I decided to buy my first whip.
After watching these clips, I sorta get the comedy. Of course the idea of a shadowy organization of men in trench coats and snap brim fedoras kidnapping beautiful women off the streets in broad daylight is universally understandable (I run such an organization myself) but the savoir faire they do it with is unmistakably French.
Thanks for finding that, nsur - it really is a visual treat, the colour, clever camera angles, and - as you say - some fine actors. Lots of familiar R-G motifs - the kidnap potential of railway tunnels, the dog stripping off a woman's clothes, the bed-bondage, the crucifix pose, all reminders of his earlier films and/or novels. If you're wanting a clear-cut story-line, or indeed any story-line, knockabout comedy, or knockabout BDSM, look elsewhere, but for sheer erotica artistry, I still think R-G is the master.
Thanks, Eulalia. Yes, worth a shout-out to the director, Alain Robbe-Grillet. Very much part of French high culture, to the extent that towards the end of his life he was even elected as one of the 40 members of the Académie française. Outside of France, probably best known as the screenwriter for "Last Year At Marienbad" (another famously incomprehensible plot).
Once again I am humbled by the level of intelligence and refinement here on CF. Based on the clips, I thought "Le Jeu Avec Le Feu" was meant primarily as comedy or parody, and that's how I saw it. Based on Eulalia's comment and yours, I will watch the entire film, if I can find it, and perhaps gain a new perspective and a greater appreciation. Once again I have ignored Wittgenstein's famous conclusion that "What we cannot speak about, we must pass over in silence."
Glop!
