La femme publique

France

1984

113 Min

Color

1.66:1

French

Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
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SCR Dominique Garnier, Andrzej Żuławski

CAST Valérie Kaprisky, Francis Huster, Lambert Wilson, Patrick Bauchau, Giselle Pascal, Roger Dumas, Diane Delor, Jean-Paul Farr, Olivier Achard, Yveline Ailhaud, Lucas Belvaux

Andrzej Zulawski’s La Femme Publique is a cinematic milestone rich with extreme imagery and raw emotions. Twenty-five years after its controversial inception at the Cannes Film Festival, this story of a young, struggling actress retains the power to shock even the most seasoned of movie goers with its violently stylish, apocalyptic tone. A woman’s destiny, divided between angel and demon… An hour and fifty-four minutes of painful happiness, La Femme Publique scratches the soul, slaps the eyes, and seduces like the maelstrom that each one of us hides beyond the conscious. To summarize La Femme Publique is impossible, dangerous and impoverishing. Zulawski is not a man of words; he plays and juggles with the image, the color, the rhythm, the sound, the music, and this unspeakable shamelessness that he steals from his actors so effectively. Between humor and paroxysm, La Femme Publique is a fascinating metaphysical experience with a degree of intensity that needs to be seen to be believed. Simply put, it represents cinema at its most insane and brilliant. —Mondo Vision (http://mondo-vision.com/publique.php)

Director

Andrzej Żuławski

Andrzej Zulawski was born on the territory of what was then the U.S.S.R. in a Polish family with remarkable traditions in arts and literature. After World War II, his father’s diplomatic career brought the family to France (1945-1949), Czechoslovakia (1949-1952), and finally to Poland. He studied film direction at IDHEC in Paris (1957-1959) and philosophy at both Warsaw University (1961) and Université de Paris (1962-1964).

First, he assisted the famous Polish director Andrzej Wajda during the filming of Samson (1961), Popioly (1966), and the Warsaw episode of L’Amour à Vingt Ans (1962). In 1967, Zulawski directed two short films, Piesn Triumfujacej Milosci and Pavoncello, for Polish TV.
His feature debut, Trzecia Czesc Nocy (1971), as well as those previous films were co-scripted by his father, poet Miroslaw Zulawski. The picture was well received at the Venice Film Festival and awarded as the Best Debut in its homeland, but had only limited release due to Polish censorship. Zulawski’s next feature, Diabel (1972), was outright banned and not released until 1988. The same happened to his next Polish project, Na Srebrnym Globie (1977). After he finished about 80 percent of the shooting, the authorities ordered him to abandon the picture and to destroy all related materials. Only in 1987 did he manage to complete the film from spare footage, using voice-over commentary for the missing parts. Since the late ‘70s, Zulawski has lived and worked mostly in France, during which time he developed a knack for showcasing his actresses’ talents. L’Important C’est D’Aimer (1975) brought its star, Romy Schneider, a Cesar (French Oscar) as did Possession (1981) to Isabelle Adjani. He then found his muse in young actress Sophie Marceau who would star in four of his films. He briefly returned to Poland where he made Szamanka (1996). Being a maverick who always defied mainstream commercialism, Zulawski enjoyed success mostly with the European art-house audiences. His wild, imaginative, and controversial pictures have received 16 awards at various international film festivals. He also wrote the novels Il était Un Verger, Lity Bór (a.k.a: La Forêt Forteresse), V Oczach Tygrysa, and Ogród Milosci. —allmovie guide

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T. J. Harman

4May13

How is Kaprisky so good in this and so bad in the BREATHLESS remake?? is it Zulawski's talents or the language barrier? Can be read as a companion piece to his TITITL..I find this underrated amongst his underrated...a masterpiece from a still misunderstood filmmaker.

Isabel Ferreira

15Dec12

Three stars and a half.

trondjo

29Jul12

The strangeness of Andrzej Zulawski is always a source of fascination and frustration. La Femme Publique is a surreal story centered around a beautiful woman who gets a part in a film based on Dostoyevsky's The Possessed and gets manipulated by the craziness of the director. Zulawski's storytelling is overall confusing, but his vivid camera work makes you forget the weakness. Still, Possession is his masterpiece. 3+.

KarstenM likes this

Publius

18Jul12

If you told a Zulawski rookie that this was his most accessible piece, it's highly likely they would be somewhat astonished. I liked this a little less than L'Amour Braque, but they make excellent companion pieces.