Immoral Tales

Four erotic tales unfold across distinct eras, each probing the edges of desire and power. In The Tide, a student and his young cousin are stranded on a desolate beach as the tide rises, intensifying their private encounter. Therese Philosophe takes us to a nineteenth century bedroom where a girl is left alone with objects that awaken forbidden longings. Erzsebet Bathory offers a stylized portrait of the sixteenth century countess and the legends of her blood rites. Lucrezia Borgia revisits a fifteenth century palace where family ties and authority collide around taboo appetites. Together the stories form a cool, lucid meditation on attraction, control, and moral ambiguity. Its tone balances elegance with raw provocation.

Released in 1974, Immoral Tales was directed by Walerian Borowczyk and adapts stories from André Pieyre de Mandiargues. The film embodies his house sensibility with stark, stylized erotic imagery that pushed boundaries. Its performances fuse classicism with a daring gaze.

Over the years the film has become a touchstone of art house sex cinema, provoking debate about pornography versus art. Borowczyk's blend of mythic figures with graphic sexuality is often cited as a defining risk that challenged mainstream boundaries.

Critics have been divided, praising its bold craft while criticizing its cold distance and gratuitous push. The four vignettes examine desire in the face of power, aging, and taboo, merging historical imagery with contemporary frankness in Borowczyk's signature style.