Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974)
"Glissements progressifs du plaisir" (original title)

A young woman is questioned by the police and the judges, suspected of being a modern witch. The girl who shared her apartment has been found dead, and a pair of scisors impaled through her... See full summary »

Director:

Alain Robbe-Grillet

Writer:

Alain Robbe-Grillet

Stars:

Anicée Alvina, Olga Georges-Picot, Michael Lonsdale

Cast

Credited cast:
Anicée Alvina	...	The Prisoner
Olga Georges-Picot	...	Nora
Michael Lonsdale	...	The Judge
Jean Martin	...	The Priest
Marianne Eggerickx	...	Claudia
Claude Marcault	...	Soeur Julia
Maxence Mailfort	...	Client / Customer
Nathalie Zeiger	...	Sister Maria
Bob Wade	...	Fossoyeur / Gravedigger
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	The police Lieutenant
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Isabelle Huppert	...	Bit
Hubert Niogret	...	Le photographe
Alain Robbe-Grillet	...	Un passant
Catherine Robbe-Grillet	...	Une soeur
Frank Verpillat

Storyline

A young woman is questioned by the police and the judges, suspected of being a modern witch. The girl who shared her apartment has been found dead, and a pair of scisors impaled through her heart, as she lay attached to the bedposts. Apparently, the girl does have powers, to make all people around her fall prey to her spell, glissing progressively into desire, lust, and the unknown.

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Plot Keywords:

lesbian | four word title | female nudity | murder | nudity | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

7 March 1974 (France)

Also Known As:

Deslizamientos progresivos del placer

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cosefa

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle) (2006)

User Reviews

Brilliant, Thoughtful High Brow French Art/Porn

SPOLILERS...kind of.

There is so much going on in this movie it's hard to know where to start. The key is a line where the girl's lawyer says, "All who approach you are perverts, insane. But it's all in your little mind." Looked at in that context, the "plot" means nothing since it's more about thoughts than action.

That said, the central character, called only "The Prisoner" is arrested for the murder of her lover, Nora. The two are in a Domme/sub, BDSM relationship with The Prisoner portrayed as the Dominant.

Many characters take on double meanings. The police, it seems to me, represent the author, asking supposedly meaningless questions that would only make sense if you were creating a rich background life for a character such as The Prisoner. One of the cops, rather than documenting the crime, blatantly records the themes of the movie: "Themes of broken bottles". Bottles stand in for the wombs and this refers the broken mother/daughter relationship between...

...The Prisoner and Nora. Nora is her mother. The same cop that records themes rather than evidence, has a scene where he recites words while writing and researching something (probably the screenplay being filmed) in the bed Nora was killed in. This is crosscut with The Prisoner being show objects and free associating. The cop says "parricide". The Prisoner says "disassociation".

Throughout the movie, Nora seems the submissive except for one scene - when the Prisoner sells herself to a man looking for deviant sex. She takes them up to the room. Nora lounges in a window seat. Stepping back, the actual "plot" revolves around Mother Nora selling and sexually abusing her daughter.

Her court-appointed lawyer (read "protector") is played by the same actress that plays Nora. At first, Nora acts like the mother The Prisoner wants/needs - strict and no-nonsense. But, The Prisoner's insanity seduces Lawyer/Mom/Nora, or at least that's the scenario The Prisoner dreams up. The Prisoner ends up killing Lawyer/Mom/Nora in very similar circumstances.

Plot-wise, the police find that Nora was NOT killed by the prisoner. They come to tell The Prisoner this and find The Lawyer dead. "We'll have to start over", the cop says.

What the director presents to us is a portrait of The Prisoner, deep in the clutches of her disassociation, creating a world that's easier for her to live in - where she controls her mother, dressing her as a manikin and, just by thinking about it, causes people to die. It's complex, gorgeous and, if not actual porn, has enough nudity to satisfy that requirement if that's what you're looking for.