France 1967, “Le théâtre de monsieur et madame Kabal” (original tile), 73 min, colour, French (no dialogues) dir Walerian Borowczyk sc Walerian Borowczyk cam Francis Pronier, Philippe Mallémont, Gérard Cox, Guy Durban ed Claude Blondel mus Avenir de Monfred, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy prod Jacques Forgeot pc Les Cinéastes Associés sales Friends of Walerian Borowczyk: Dominique Duvergé-Ségrétin aw Mannheim-Heidelberg IFF 1967: Golden Ducat, Interfilm Award, Annency IFF 1967 : Special Jury Prize
Originally conceived as a television series, Borowczyk expands on the blackly comic antics of the Kabal couple he first introduced in his 1962 short, The Concert of Mr. and Mrs. Kabal. Bizarre, grotesque yet strangely touching, Borowczyk’s most ambitious film eschews not only dialogue (for the most part) and conventional narrative to evoke the highs and lows of married live. In addition the sparse, coarse graphics Borowczyk splices in gloriously kitsch live action colour inserts which make us, the viewer, privy to Monsieur Kabal’s dreams and fantasies of extramarital affairs with a harem of girls… Think of a soap opera written by Samuel Beckett complete with art direction by Roland Topor and you might begin to get an inkling of what is on show.