The Harem (1967)
(L'harem)
Country: IT/GER/FR
Technical: Technicolor/2.35:1 100m
Director: Marco Ferreri
Cast: Carroll Baker, Gastone Moschin, Renato Salvatori, Michel Le Royer
Synopsis:
A woman recoils from the idea of marriage but invites her ex-fiancé, lawyer and a former lover to a villa in Dubrovnik where, with her gay friend as majordomo, she toys with each in turn as part of her 'harem'. How long will male pride endure this degrading roleplay?
Review:
A meditation on women's emancipation during the sixties, with the pill, the film posits the idea of a woman living out every male's fantasy and saying, 'how do you like it?' Thus, when her pills go missing, it is the first nail in her feminist coffin and she becomes increasingly passive and submissive. Unfortunately, Ferreri's direction is pedestrian and the screenplay too talkative by far, so for most viewers stimulation of any kind will rapidly give way to boredom. (Inexplicably, the current Infinity DVD transfer projects this film at a ratio of around 3:1, making the actors appear somewhat squat in the frame.)
(L'harem)
Country: IT/GER/FR
Technical: Technicolor/2.35:1 100m
Director: Marco Ferreri
Cast: Carroll Baker, Gastone Moschin, Renato Salvatori, Michel Le Royer
Synopsis:
A woman recoils from the idea of marriage but invites her ex-fiancé, lawyer and a former lover to a villa in Dubrovnik where, with her gay friend as majordomo, she toys with each in turn as part of her 'harem'. How long will male pride endure this degrading roleplay?
Review:
A meditation on women's emancipation during the sixties, with the pill, the film posits the idea of a woman living out every male's fantasy and saying, 'how do you like it?' Thus, when her pills go missing, it is the first nail in her feminist coffin and she becomes increasingly passive and submissive. Unfortunately, Ferreri's direction is pedestrian and the screenplay too talkative by far, so for most viewers stimulation of any kind will rapidly give way to boredom. (Inexplicably, the current Infinity DVD transfer projects this film at a ratio of around 3:1, making the actors appear somewhat squat in the frame.)
(L'harem)
Country: IT/GER/FR
Technical: Technicolor/2.35:1 100m
Director: Marco Ferreri
Cast: Carroll Baker, Gastone Moschin, Renato Salvatori, Michel Le Royer
Synopsis:
A woman recoils from the idea of marriage but invites her ex-fiancé, lawyer and a former lover to a villa in Dubrovnik where, with her gay friend as majordomo, she toys with each in turn as part of her 'harem'. How long will male pride endure this degrading roleplay?
Review:
A meditation on women's emancipation during the sixties, with the pill, the film posits the idea of a woman living out every male's fantasy and saying, 'how do you like it?' Thus, when her pills go missing, it is the first nail in her feminist coffin and she becomes increasingly passive and submissive. Unfortunately, Ferreri's direction is pedestrian and the screenplay too talkative by far, so for most viewers stimulation of any kind will rapidly give way to boredom. (Inexplicably, the current Infinity DVD transfer projects this film at a ratio of around 3:1, making the actors appear somewhat squat in the frame.)