A Private Collection (1973)

A witty and eye-opening tour through Borowczyk's own collection of vintage erotica. Originally intended as part of his 'Contes immoraux', it was released first as a separate short, and is ... See full summary »

Director:

Walerian Borowczyk

Writer:

Walerian Borowczyk

Star:

André Pieyre de Mandiargues

Cast

Cast overview:
André Pieyre de Mandiargues	...	Narrator

Storyline

A witty and eye-opening tour through Borowczyk's own collection of vintage erotica. Originally intended as part of his 'Contes immoraux', it was released first as a separate short, and is therefore marks the turning-point between Borowczyk's career as a highly-regarded animator and surrealist filmmaker, and his subsequent career in the sexploitation field.

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Genres:

Documentary | Short

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

20 July 2013 (Poland)

Also Known As:

A Private Collection

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argos Films, Peter Schamoni Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

14 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

The more explicit, slightly longer edit, known as 'The Oberhausen Cut', has been edited for it's inclusion on Arrow Films' Camera Obscura box-set to remove a scene of actual bestiality. The following appears at the start of the film 'In order to comply with UK law, part of this alternative version of A Private Collection has been adapted with the full co-operation of Borowczyk's regular collaborator, Dominique Duverge-Segretin'.

User Reviews

Sex, texture, and collections

UNE COLLECTION PARTICULIERE crystallizes, in wittily stripped-down form, many of the concerns that run through Borowczyk's œuvre. Firstshown as part of a "work-in-progress" screening of IMMORAL TALES at the London Film Festival in 1973, this collector's cabinet curiosity piece puts on display an assortment of objects, toys and images, all bound by the twin obsessions of sex and looking. What is particularly striking about the way Borowczyk presents the collection (which he himself owned) is the close attention to texture and sound, which combine to suggest a sensuous tactility in spite of the predominantly humorous and crude nature of the curios. The creaking and ticking of vintage mechanical toys generates a rhythm that echoes the movement of film itself, as well as movement of a more carnal nature. This harks back to Borowczyk's training as an animator, which fuelled a fascination for the way stillness and movement come together in both cinema and sex. Meanwhile the emphasis on the textures of wood, cloth, paper and engravings that can be seen throughout his work becomes the primary subject-matter here. A sense of touch is conveyed strikingly by the presence, in extreme close-up, of fingertips touching and holding these erotic relics, invading their space in the frame.

"Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects", wrote Walter Benjamin; "not that they come alive in him (the collector); it is he who lives in them". Here the life of the collector-director is hinted at in his possessions, as well as a sexually-charged extended history of previous owners.

Well worth seeing if you get the chance.