Sylvia Kristel 1970s Collection

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Finally comes one of Kristel’s more well-known works; 1974’s Julia, a German sex comedy/drama. Much like the first film in this collection, Julia is a study in perversion, though much less extreme. Pauli (Ekkehardt Belle) takes a trip to join his father for a summer retreat away from boarding school. There he meets a long-time friend and object of his lust, Julia (Sylvia Kristel). The two make moves towards lovemaking when they are interrupted by another male friend whose moves end up much more explicit than Pauli’s. The acting in this one is fantastic. Sadly, Kristel was not the star of the show with Hauer and Rappaport taking front and center. She is in the film quit a bit but this is a vehicle for Hauer and he makes good use of his screen time. It was strange seeing how young he was here and he still does a fantastic job. The supporting cast is great as well but it’s Hauer that pulls the viewer in.

I’ve been a fan of sexploitation for a few years now but my knowledge of them is very limited. However, it is something that I want to continue to watch and enjoy and I have companies like Cult Epics, Vinegar Syndrome, and Impulse Pictures to help me along on this journey. Julia is not one I had heard about prior to CE’s announcement but it was one of two films in the set that caught my eye. I was looking forward to another sexploitation film starring Kristel and it did not disappoint.PASTORALE 1943 (Netherlands, 1978) Wim Verstappen. Bonus features: 2K Transfer, Audio Commentary by Peter Verstraten, Vintage Interviews 1978 HD, Theatrical HD Trailers and more tba. Released in 1975, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s surreal, absurdist sado-masochistic drama PLAYING WITH FIRE (LE JEU AVEC LE FEU) features Sylvia in one of her most challenging roles alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant, Anicée Alvina and her EMMANUELLE co-star Christine Boisson.

We begin with 1975s Playing with Fire, an absurdist psycho-sexual drama that satirizes the rich and powerful by exploring a surreal sadomasochistic system built for their perverse and disgusting pleasures. Kristel plays a captive in the kidnapping scheme. While her role in this film is small, the film itself is an excellent example of the avant-garde projects Kristel sought out. In the prologue highlighting Sigimond's idyllic family life, he mentions a trip he is going to make to Paris. The narrative then skips ahead to show Sigimond in Paris. There is directorial intent to confuse the audience into believing that this trip is the same one Sigimond had mentioned, but that is later revealed indirectly not to be the case. This trip happens at a later date. The other reviewers missed that vital detail. While on that earlier trip to Paris he had mentioned to his wife, his son drowned and the wife committed suicide. The letter Sigimond retrieved from the post office (the one that had been sent to him by his maid concerning the death of his family) was NOT the first time he learned about it. It was her resignation letter, since she cannot herself deal with the tragedy.

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Filmed and released right after Sylvia became one of the world's biggest stars as Emmanuelle (1974), Sigi Rothemund's 1974 film Julia is a German sex comedy drama, with Sylvia as a young boy's first love, foreshadowing her later U.S. commercial hit Private Lessons.

Her favourite film was Borowczyk's The Streetwalker (La Marge, 1976), in which she is touching as a mysterious and proud prostitute who has an affair with a happily married man (Joe Dallesandro). Alice or the Last Escapade (Alice ou la Dernière Fugue, 1977) was a surprising departure into fantasy for Chabrol. In this homage to Lewis Carroll and "old dark house" movies, Kristel does her best with the passive character. Kristel was married and divorced twice. She is survived by her partner, Peter Brul, and a son by the Belgian author Hugo Claus, a partner from the mid-1970s.

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First of all, all four films, including both cuts of Emmanuelle, have English subtitles. A big thank you to Koch Films for going to this trouble, especially since their main market is German Europe. To that end, I must point out that I'm not qualified in German in any capacity, so all of the German options went untested by me. I watched all four films in French and this is what the English subtitles are timed to. Next is Mysteries, a Dutch translation of a popular Swedish novel. Fans of period romance will find great interest in this film. It is slow and absolutely dated, but this late-Victorian era tale is beautiful from start to finish. The nature on display is stunning and realistic, the staging is dynamic and interesting, and the plot itself is intriguing. Pastorale 1943: Feature audio commentary by Peter W. Verstraten; Interview with Sylvia Kristel and Frederik de Groot (7 minutes); Interview with Sylvia Kristel (11 minutes); Poster and photo gallery; Pastorale 1943 Promo (1 minute); Pastorale 1943 trailer; Mysteries trailer; Julia trailer

PLAYING WITH FIRE (France, 1975) Alain Robbe-Grillet. Bonus features: 2K Transfer, Audio Commentary by Tim Lucas, Interview with Catherine Robbe-Grillet and more tba. Mysteries is not the type of movie many of us would expect me to review for Horror Society. However, it’s exactly the type of film that I wanted to review when I started this journey a decade ago. I wanted to review movies that were lost to time and Mysteries is just one of those films. I appreciate that Cult Epics took the chance with this one and included it in their set because it was a lot of fun. The set’s two Dutch films are co-starring Rutger Hauer, and Sylvia at the peak of her career. Submitted for the 1978 Academy Awards — Best Foreign Film, Wim Verstappen’s PASTORALE 1943 is a war drama centered on the Dutch resistance during World War II, and also features the debut of Renée Soutendijk. Painter turned director Paul de Lussanet’s romantic psychological drama MYSTERIES, based on the world famous novel by the Norwegian nobel prize winner Knut Hamsun and shot by renowned cinematographer Robby Müller, also stars Rita Tushingham and David Rappaport. Released in 1975, Alain Robbe-Grillet's surreal, absurdist sado-masochistic drama Playing with Fire (Le jeu avec le feu) features Sylvia in one of her most challenging roles alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant, Anicée Alvina and her Emmanuelle co-star Christine Boisson.

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In the HD master of the Theatrical Version, there is a small jump cut in the last few frames of a shot. For the DC, the shot was simply stopped a moment earlier immediately before this jump cut.