A surrealist saga in four parts: 1.) The credit sequence in which title cards show successively larger foetuses pulsating on the screen until the baby is born and cries. 2.) Etoile-directly referring to Cocteau, Lethem shows an adolescent sucking a starfish and then giving birth to a smaller starfish. A statement of inadequacy. To give birth involves an emasculation and a loss of vitality. 3.) Corps-two images of a man on a couch groping for each other, watched by a mysterious peeping Tom. As the two superimposed images come together, the heavy breathing subsides…the statement that the birth of desire is a self – realisation. 4.) Hymen – The decaying body of a girl is shot through green filters, and the final image reveals her vagina crawling with maggots and overlain with a crucifix. A representation of Catholicism preventing the free expression of desire.
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Cast
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Roland Lethem Director
First release December 27, 1967 · Produced in Belgium · Original title Les souffrances d'un oeuf meurtri
Production
Belgium
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Les souffrances d'un oeuf meurtri
Original language
French
Spoken on screen
French
Release dates
Belgium · December 27, 1967
Limited theatrical · Knokke Experimental Film Festival
No release date listed for United States.
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