The local revival house has some bizarre festivals, and next month the big show is "writers who direct". Not much sounds really appealing to me except for TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE and what I wanted to ask y'all about:

L'EDEN ET APRES -- "EDEN AND AFTER" (1970), directed by Robbe-Grillet.

I was wondering what everybody here thought of this. If anybody's seen it.

(Judging from the one review on imdb, I'm guessing I'll have more luck here than in Arthouse.)

doug

My recommendation to you would be to go see it, if for no other reason than I’ve found Alain Robbe-Grillet films very difficult to come by (much less on the big screen). I did a quick check in Pete Tombs’ wonderful “Immoral Tales” and found only a brief mention. Apparently the film has something to do with a powder that causes hallucinations of torture, murder, and rape. The book also contains a couple of stills from the film; one of women in cages and the other is of dead women on spikes.

I just picked up Robbe-Grillet’s book “The Voyeur” based on praise from Tim Lucas, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (I’m still trudging through “The Story of O”). Has anyone else read this?

Haven't read "The Voyeur", but yesterday I picked up an old paperback
with Jealousy(which I am reading now) and Into the Labyrinth. Definetely
unique and challenging stuff. In the introductory essays there is a brief synopsis of "The Voyeur" and it sound pretty interesting, as does "The Erasers". So I guess
if you have the chance to watch one of the guys films, do it, although I am sure they will fall on the Arthouse side of things.

I've read THE VOYEUR as well as numerous other Robbe-Grillet books, and I highly recommend it. I found it difficult at first to appreciate the noveau roman style, but you get accustomed to it quickly.

ISTR that in Pete Tombs and Cathal Tohill's book IMMORAL TALES, they mention in their chapter on Robbe-Grillet that his films are scarce on VHS or DVD because Robbe-Grillet doesn't like them to be shown that way (I could be remembering this incorrectly -- I'd have to re-read the passage). So I would definitely check out EDEN AND AFTER, as it may be your only chance to do so!

You should definitely seize any opportunity to see a Alain Robbe-Grillet film. Unlike his books, Robbe-Grillet's films are extraordinarily difficult to see. I've only seen one (The Blue Villa) and it was fascinating.

Can you tell us what theater is showing the film? I'd be very interested in contacting them to see where they got the print.