{"id":26023,"date":"2023-02-06T02:23:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T10:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26023"},"modified":"2023-02-06T02:23:56","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T10:23:56","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-a-woman-kills-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26023","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: A WOMAN KILLS (1968)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray from Radiance Films is currently available\nfor purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the years, I\u2019ve reviewed many Blu-rays under the\n\u201cBlasts from the Past!\u201d banner. This article about an older film is something\nof an oddity. By definition, it is from the past, but this title has never been\nseen by the public until very recently. A Woman Kills<\/em> aka La Femme\nBourreau<\/em> is a very interesting French production. It\u2019s a combination of\narthouse cinema and exploitation movie that couldn\u2019t find a distributor when it\nwas produced and disappeared. In 2010, the rough assembly was recovered and\nscreened in Paris to enthusiastic response. After this preview and a few\ntweaks, the project was finally completed and found a distributor. Now, after\nmore than 50 years since it was shot, it is being released on Blu-ray by\nRadiance Films.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth be told, the story of how it was lost is just as\ninteresting as the movie itself. Writer\/director Jean-Denis Bonan got his start\ncapturing newsreel footage for the cinema and helped create a collective called\nthe A.R.C. (Atelier de Recherche Cin\u00e9matographique). Much of his early work\nconsisted of capturing images of left-wing student protests against the\ngovernment. Soon, he also began producing short films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these titles earned a great deal of attention during\nits premiere. Tristesses des anthropophages<\/em> (1966) aka Sadness of the\nanthropophagi <\/em>generated buzz and shocked some viewers before being banned\nby film censors. Not only did they disallow the short from ever being screened\nin France, but they also prevented it from being exported to other countries.\nUndaunted and encouraged by the positive responses it had received, Bonan\nstarted work on an independent, self-financed feature. This became A Woman\nKills <\/em>and it was filmed during a series of riots and civil unrest in Paris.\nHe and his crew would shoot their narrative during the day on 16mm stock, and\nthen capture footage of violent confrontations between citizens and police in\nthe evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, many were taken by the images Bonan created\nand some in the industry paid for a rough assembly of the film so that it might\nfind a willing distributor. Alas, no one would release the project. The movie\nwas an unusual hybrid and featured no stars. Essentially, no one thought they\ncould sell it to the public (the situation wasn\u2019t helped by the fact that the\ncreator\u2019s most famous work had been banned) and so the movie was never\ncompleted. Instead, it literally sat on a shelf for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, what is it all about? Narrated like a police procedural, an unseen figure explains that female serial killer H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Picard has just been executed for a series of brutal slayings of women that had terrorized citizens of Paris. The story focuses on Louis Guilbeau (Claude Merlin), her executioner who has hidden psychological issues. As it turns out, childhood trauma and his career causes his mind to snap. He immediately begins dressing as a woman and commits his own string of murders involving prostitutes, all carried out in a manner similar to H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Picard. Coincidentally, Louis\u2019 girlfriend, police detective Solange Lebas (Solange Pradel), is assigned to track down the responsible party. She connects the dots quickly and pursues her boyfriend through the streets of Paris in order to deliver justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 70 minutes, it\u2019s a short movie that could have done with\nfurther background and character development. Indeed, the strange combination\nof droning voice-over, further narration by Louis himself, light exchanges\nbetween the central character and Solange, as well as some graphic murders is\nstrange to behold. Regardless, the movie is well-paced, has lots of interesting\nsubtext and there are plenty of striking images on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Much of the film is shot in a decrepit area of Paris and the\nstriking photography captures it all beautifully. The camera moves through\nnarrow apartment hallways and alleyways and one can see every crack in the wall\nand loose brick about to fall. By the time the pursuit reaches its climax and\nLouis has gone into survival mode, there are truly remarkable images of the\ncharacter scampering through buildings that are literally falling apart\n(mirroring his mental state).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is even some impressive staging in the murders themselves. One memorable scene involving a prostitute is shot from below the characters. There is no mattress visible, only Louis and his victim moving on painful looking boxspring. The shot makes an impact on the viewer. Made on-the-fly, the movie certainly has its share of issues, but definitely displays raw talent and impressively captures decaying neighborhoods in Paris during the era. In many respects, it feels like an honest depiction of a troubled soul. This is a unique effort and it really is too bad that it couldn\u2019t find a brave distributor who would release it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The image has been restored in 2K from its original 16mm\nelements. It was shot on reversible black-and-white stock, meaning there is no\nnegative and this is likely as good as the film will ever look. Thankfully, it\nis a sharp, impressive picture and the eye-popping background environments\nstand out. Film critic Virginie S\u00e9lavy introduces the film and helps give\ninformation about the production. She joins movie expert Kat Ellinger and the\ntwo dissect the movie. Their track is an interesting listen and is filled with\ntidbits about the production. The two also point out some of the strange\ncontradictions present within the story, also noting how a few elements were\nahead of the curve (female lead Solange is by far the most competent detective\nin the film).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the disc contains an extended interview with\nJean-Denis Bonan and details his unusual experiences in cinema. He tells his\nown story and the frustrations experienced during his career, while his\ncinematographer, editor, music composer and star detail their memories shooting\nthe movie. Bonan\u2019s firsthand recollections and intentions are excellent to hear\nand help gain an understanding of his work and what he was attempting to\naccomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another great extra is the Bonan shorts. Included are many of his projects from this era, including an unfinished short with a director commentary detailing what was supposed to have occurred in it. But the highlight is the inclusion of his banned short, Tristesses des anthropophages<\/em>, which hasn\u2019t been seen in decades. It\u2019s a darkly humorous effort pushing elements to the extreme and taking shots at the establishment, who punish anyone choosing to live their life differently from the norm. And the element that offended censors? It involves the general public going to a popular restaurant, paying for and consuming meals made of human excrement. The bit is actually handled by the filmmaker in a devious and comical way (and, of course, it\u2019s all staged), but was too much for censors at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s wonderful that Radiance Films is finding lost projects\nand rescuing them. This title (and the accompanying shorts) could easily have\ndisappeared forever, but they have now been salvaged for another generation or\ntwo to watch and appreciate. The picture has been transferred to Blu-ray with\ncare and the extras help inform and allow viewers to understand the cultural\nmovement that the film was a part of. If you enjoy cinematic obscurities from\naround the world and movies that pushed buttons back in the day (and probably\nstill would, even now), it\u2019s worth your while to track down A Woman Kills<\/em>.\nRadiance Films have delivered an impressive disc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blu-ray from Radiance Films is currently available for purchase. Over the years, I\u2019ve reviewed many Blu-rays under the \u201cBlasts from the Past!\u201d banner. This article about an older film is something of an oddity. By definition, it is from the past, but this title has never been seen by the public until very recently. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[98,591,592,593,594,1851,2933,3073,4452,7798,9319,10499,12633,15728,16214,16584,22825,23583],"class_list":["post-26023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-98","tag-a-woman-kills","tag-a-woman-kills-blu-ray","tag-a-woman-kills-blu-ray-review","tag-a-woman-kills-review","tag-arthouse","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-civil-unrest","tag-france","tag-horror","tag-jean-denis-bonan","tag-lost-film","tag-paris","tag-police-procedural","tag-radiance-films","tag-thriller","tag-unreleased"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}