I first encountered Georges Franju when I was at school when the school film society screened his famous short film LE SANG DES BETES. I must have been fourteen or fifteen at the time and the film nearly turned me into a vegetarian. The film is a "poetic" evocation of a 
day in a Paris abattoir. Some of the images haunt me even today, the slaughter of a beautiful horse, calfs on a conveyer belt having their throats cut before air is pumped into the still writhing bodies to create veal (something I still cannot eat today) and all done quite casually by workers who might just as well be opening cardboard boxes. I vividly remember several of my schoolmates passing out during the screening yet, horrified as I was (and nothing could induce me to watch the film again) I already had a sense of cinema that made me continue to subject myself to the images on the screen. Even hating the film one has to admit that it is a powerful piece of film-making. Franju made a whole series of highly regarded documentaries before moving into feature films with his masterpiece LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (Eyes without a Face).A few years ag
o I watched this film again and decided to catch up with some of the other Franju films like THERESE DESQUEYROUX, JUDEX, THOMAS L'IMPOSTER and NUITS ROUGES. BUT NONE WERE AVAILABLE!!!! Only EYES WITHOUT A FACE in circulation - even in France : a national disgrace, I thought. Now, the situation has been somewhat improved because on August 25th a DVD is being released which contains not on his 1963 remake of Feuillade's JUDEX but NUITS ROUGES (a thriller also known as THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE). Hopefully, more Franju films will follow including the bizarre thrillers he made for French television towards the end of his career.
day in a Paris abattoir. Some of the images haunt me even today, the slaughter of a beautiful horse, calfs on a conveyer belt having their throats cut before air is pumped into the still writhing bodies to create veal (something I still cannot eat today) and all done quite casually by workers who might just as well be opening cardboard boxes. I vividly remember several of my schoolmates passing out during the screening yet, horrified as I was (and nothing could induce me to watch the film again) I already had a sense of cinema that made me continue to subject myself to the images on the screen. Even hating the film one has to admit that it is a powerful piece of film-making. Franju made a whole series of highly regarded documentaries before moving into feature films with his masterpiece LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (Eyes without a Face).A few years ag
o I watched this film again and decided to catch up with some of the other Franju films like THERESE DESQUEYROUX, JUDEX, THOMAS L'IMPOSTER and NUITS ROUGES. BUT NONE WERE AVAILABLE!!!! Only EYES WITHOUT A FACE in circulation - even in France : a national disgrace, I thought. Now, the situation has been somewhat improved because on August 25th a DVD is being released which contains not on his 1963 remake of Feuillade's JUDEX but NUITS ROUGES (a thriller also known as THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE). Hopefully, more Franju films will follow including the bizarre thrillers he made for French television towards the end of his career.
1 comment:
LES SANG DES BETES is, I believe, included on the DVD of LES YIEUX SANS VISAGE but I don't own it. And if I did I'm fairly sure I would never watch it. I have been on my guard against accidentally watching that film for several years now ever since I heard what it was about and how harrowing it apparently is. Your review only backs up my resolve. While I unfortunately don't own the (Criterion?) dvd of LES YIEUX SANS VISAGE, I of course own it on VHS but haven't watched it for a good many years now. I think it's about time I brought that one out again for another look. I never really connected with it the first time so I'd be interested in my reaction to it all these years later.
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