La prisonnière (1968)

Stanislas Hassler blazes the development of modern art in his gallery, packed with works of surprising shapes, colours and textures, and where exhibitions turn into media events. Gilbert ... See full summary »

Director:

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writers:

Henri-Georges Clouzot (scenario, adaptation and dialogue), Monique Lange (scenario collaborator)

Stars:

Laurent Terzieff, Elisabeth Wiener, Bernard Fresson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Laurent Terzieff	...	Stanislas Hassler
Elisabeth Wiener	...	Josée
Bernard Fresson	...	Gilbert Moreau
Dany Carrel	...	Maguy
Michel Etcheverry	...	Le chirurgien
Claude Piéplu	...	Le père de Josée
Noëlle Adam	...	La mère de Josée
Daniel Rivière	...	Maurice
Annie Fargue
Germaine Delbat	...	La gérante
Gilberte Géniat	...	La patronne de l'auberge
Darío Moreno	...	Sala

Storyline

Stanislas Hassler blazes the development of modern art in his gallery, packed with works of surprising shapes, colours and textures, and where exhibitions turn into media events. Gilbert Moreau is one of the artists whose sculptures are on display in the gallery. His wife, Josée, is intrigued by the stern Stanislas, who devotes his free time to photography in an apartment that highlights his sophisticated artistic tastes. But besides enlarged pictures of calligraphic samples, Stanislas is amassing a collection of photographs that reveal a disturbed character. So why would Josée endanger her mature relationship with Gilbert for the morbid observation of Stanislas's hidden personality?

---

Plot Keywords:

modern art | artist | sculpture | woman | dream sequence | 

---

Taglines:

From the Master Film Maker Henri-Georges Clouzot!

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

20 November 1968 (France)

Also Known As:

Woman in Chains

Filming Locations:

Lagny-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films Corona, Fono Roma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (2009)

---

Soundtracks

Extraits de la 4ème Symphonie (Symphony No. 4)
Music by Gustav Mahler
Conducted by Gilbert Amy
Editions Universal

User Reviews

Fails to deliver on its unoriginal promise

Saw this 10/11/15. Clouzot knew the game had changed considerably since his last completed film in 1960. His "La Prisonnière" represents an attempt to join the crowd. Unfortunately, the movie accomplishes little else beyond offering some very interesting photography bringing to mind other nearby films such as "Belle de Jour" (1967), "Two or Three Things I Know About Her" (1967) or "Blow-up" (1966). "La Prisionniere" looks as if the DP presented interesting visual ideas for Clouzot to work into a movie, somehow. I think a stronger movie would have had it the other way around.

Laurent Terzieff as Stan was apparently stuck with the role of the movie's go-to guy for inchoate forays into masochism and mild lesbianism. Elisabeth Wiener tries her best as his sub rosa subject, and Bernard Fresson is the mercenary, arty, and ultimately, chumpy husband.

For a director with Clouzot's reputation for cruelty to actors, the movie's theme of dominance and submission is disturbing but unsurprising. Where everyone else seemed to sense freedom in the 60's, Clouzot seems to have believed there was interesting darkness on the flip side.

Maybe he was not entirely wrong, but a film so conceived was not this one. Nothing is developed to the extent promised or necessary. The able cast cannot deliver more of a movie than Clouzot had designed. The dream sequence is little more than a post production doodle whose visual effects, unable to carry Clouzot's stillborn thematic material, merely look dated. Corman's 1967 "The Trip" played a similar game with greater success. The American's more modest goal of selling tickets seems to have had a better result than the aging French master's muddled quest for great cinema.