LA FEMME PUBLIQUE

(A.k.a. THE PUBLIC WOMAN)

Ethel (Valerie Kaprisky) walks determinedly down a smoky, decaying street and up to a local restaurant. There, she hands money over to the waitress and asks her to pass it on to a man sat inside with his dog. The waitress obliges, but this act soon causes chaos when loan-sharks witness the transaction and make a move on the man - throwing him out of the cafe window. Ethel flees, sobbing.

This emotive opening segues into Ethel sitting in a plush office auditioning for her part in a film adaptation of Dostoyevsky's "The Possessed". The producers are unimpressed and send her packing, but director Lucas (Francis Huster) is struck by her vulnerability and chases her in the street, telling her he believes the part should belong to her.

In the meantime, Ethel's making a living by participating in naked photo shoots for seedy old men. Cavorting wildly to electronic music, she gives it her all as a middle-aged photographer keenly takes his snaps. He stops the music though when even he is struck by how carried away she becomes. Embarrassed, Ethel dresses and leaves - picking up her payment on the way out.

A few days later, Ethel bumps into Lucas again in the street. This time he's with a blonde woman in distinctive gold stilettos. Ethel approaches them but Lucas brushes her off, barely remembering her name and informing her that due to budget cuts the film may no longer go ahead.

However, moments later Lucas is alone and he catches up with Ethel as she enters her apartment block, asking her to meet him the following day to audition for him.

At the audition, the cast read for Lucas, each one filmed on video and played through a TV screen in all their frenzied glory. There's certainly a lot of emotion in these theatrical performances! But Ethel enraptures Lucas further with her candid performance - so much so that he gives her lift home, and then seduces her on the stairs to her apartment.

Their relationship suffers when filming of "The Possessed" begins and Lucas acts opposite Ethel, finding her impossible and openly berating her for being unable to nail the role. The matter is further confounded when Ethel catches a news article on television concerning a murdered body found with gold stilettos on its feet ...

Ethel confronts Lucas about the murder. He insists the woman is alive and drags Ethel to the woman's husband, film crewmember Milan (Lambert Wilson), who confirms that his wife left the country to return to Czechoslovakia a few days earlier. Sensing a cover-up, Ethel gets to know Milan - Czech immigrant and lackey to Lucas - better, hoping to find out more about his missing wife Elena.

But the more Ethel learns, the more she discovers Elena's relationship to Lucas was frighteningly similar to her own. Meanwhile, the reason behind Milan's unusual commitment towards Lucas becomes more apparent each time a senior religious figure's visit to France is mentioned on the television ...

The thin line between reality and fiction becomes increasingly blurred as Ethel immerses deeper into both her role as actress, both in the film of "The Possessed" and beside Milan as replacement for his missing wife ...

Overwrought, overlong and stacked with pretentious observations such as "freedom for all can only be obtained through slavery for all" and "" - it's easy to see why so many people have trouble with the cinema of Andrej Zulawksi. Myself, I'm a big fan of his films in general and as such LA FEMME PUBLIQUE does not disappoint.

It's true that if you struggled through the non-linear plotting of THE THIRD PART OF THE NIGHT, were irritated by the incessant hysteria of POSSESSION or repelled by the cold blue cynicism of DIABEL, then you're unlikely to be enamoured by LA FEMME PUBLIQUE.

It's not an easy film to follow in terms of narrative, employing at-times confusing methods of blurring film-within-a-film scenes with it's outer complex plot. Heavy dialogue further burdens the logic of the script, especially when even the simplest scenarios are fluffed unnecessarily with political rhetoric or philosophy for beginners. But there's enough angst and melodrama to keep you engaged, and as with other Zulawksi epics, stand your ground and you'll be rewarded when it all gels (kind of) towards the end.

In fairness, the plot to LA FEMME PUBLIQUE is more straightforward than the three films mentioned above, being based on the novel by Dominique Garnier. It's the storytelling that's confused, undoubtedly a consequence of Garnier and Zulawksi collaborating on the screenplay. It's frequently muddled and I can imagine some viewers becoming distracted by the midway mark. But to give up at this point would be a mistake - this is where it all starts to form.

The pace is deceptive in that not much action takes place but the storyline feels frantic, due to the endless shouting, arguing, intense performances and short edits of beautifully composed images.

Which brings me to another aspect of the film which is also pure Zulawski: it's look. Interiors are traditionally grey and decaying, as are character costumes. Off-set against these dull designs are the occasionally inspired use of primary colours (certain exterior scenes), wonderful wide-lensed framing shots and odd angles to add artistic value to otherwise conventional scenes. The sex scenes are, predictably, energetic and imbued with glowing coloured studio lights.

Performances, as suggested earlier, are as manic as the script. Kaprisky does her best to outdo Isabelle Adjani's performance in POSSESSION, no doubt spurred on by the fact that Adjani bizarrely won awards for her screaming effort (Kaprisky was nominated for a Cesar - the French Oscar - which Adjani had won for POSSESSION three years earlier).

Kaprisky is a likeable lead due to her vulnerable visage, but her hysterical wailing can grate. Still, whenever she gets her kit off (often), it becomes apparent why she was the perfect choice for the role. Wow.

Sex and violence are part of Zulawski's oeuvre and both punctuate LA FEMME PUBLIQUE's erratic pacing at regular intervals. The sex is more prominent and, while not overly explicit, becomes quite heated. The violence here is more restrained than in the likes of POSSESSION or DIABEL, but still throbs in every scene by way of the intense performances threatening at any given moment to explode.

To pigeon-hole LA FEMME PUBLIQUE into a genre is difficult.

Erotic thriller hardly seems apt, although it is more appropriate than horror film, as this it is most certainly not. While filled with moments of baroque weirdness, the film is perhaps too structured to fall into the bracket of true surrealism. And although there is political anger evident throughout, from the riots in the streets to the assassination of a leading figure, and taking in the slightly cringe-inducing rebel talk of Lucas' crew at a squash court, this lacks the astute observations of Zulawski's earlier works.

Still, it's a film that's filled with memorable set-piece scenes. Many of which are regular ingredients in Zulawski films: action taking place on a spiral staircase; the location of decaying streets; poverty-stricken dwellings; smoke-filled sets; political unrest; the themes of identity and role-playing; the endless screaming and crying; the melodramatic score (provided to perfection on this occasion by Alain Wisniak). Perhaps only Argento has plagiarised his own career more.

The film is presented uncut in a gorgeous anamorphic 1.66:1 transfer. Strong blacks and accurate flesh tones work alongside sharp detail to provide a solid, grain-free presentation that puts to shame a lot of films on disc that are half the age of this one (25 years and counting).

Audio is provided in original French mono, and is similarly impressive. Well-balanced and consistent throughout, the clear playback is accompanied with easily readable and well-read optional English subtitles.

The static main menu continues the Manga-esque design of the packaging (more on that below) and leads into a static scene-selection menu page that allows access to the main feature via 23 chapters.

Of the interesting extras on offer, arguably the best is a commentary track from Zulawski himself. As with the commentary recorded for Anchor Bay US's release of POSSESSION a few years back, this is an English-spoken chat with long-time Zulawski enthusiast and biographer Daniel Bird.

Bird does a good job of moderating, prompting the fiercely intelligent director at key moments of the film, keeping the commentary in synch with the onscreen action. Zulawski is candid but mostly complementary when discussing his cast, and open when relaying his thoughts on the film's themes and its "film within a film" mechanics. His English is very good and easy to follow, making for an engaging, informative and fluent discussion.

A 16-minute video interview with Zulawksi follows, which finds the great man sat comfortably in a living room speaking to the camera about how the film came to be, the book that inspired it and how sex became an integral part of the film. Again, it's an interesting conversation - albeit, it repeats some of the ground already covered in the sterling commentary. English subtitles are provided here, despite Zulawski addressing the screen in English.

Next up is the original 1984 "pre-release" trailer, which is slightly faded and grainy but still packs a punch by throwing as many of the film's enjoyably OTT visuals into just-over 2 minutes. Great stuff.

Rounding the disc extras is an image gallery split into several sections: French Lobby cards (15 images), Japanese publicity shots (10, all in black-and-white), Production Stills (11), photos of Zulawski on set (7), Posters (3), pages from the Japanese press book (31), Flyers (3), Expoguigou Gallery (2).

It would be remiss of me to conclude my review without making mention of the gorgeous packaging offered by Mondo Vision. Housed in an extremely attractive slipcase, the disc is held in a durable fold-out digi-pack that continues the outer case's misleading but beautiful Manga-type animation scheme (courtesy of Jean Philippe Guigou).

Inside the packaging is a colour 24-page booklet featuring full film credits plus some excellent essay notes by Bird, as well as a Zulawski filmography and some fetching photographs of Kaprisky in various states of undress.

I viewed the single disc special edition, which is a delight in itself. Also available is a limited 2-disc boxset, which includes all of the above plus a CD soundtrack, a 48-page commemorative book and 10 reproduction lobby cards. Be quick though, as there are only 2,000 of these in print.

LA FEMME PUBLIQUE is a sterling effort from Mondo Vision, acting as a hugely promising statement of intent in terms of title and superb quality presentation. Let's hope they can keep up their high standards, especially as they have announced intentions of more Zulawski films as future releases.

Perhaps the glossiest and most accessible Zulawski film I've seen so far, LA FEMME PUBLIQUE is still murky and challenging. But if you're a fan of the man then all the usual ingredients are here to love, and he's never been better served on DVD.

Review by Stu Willis