THE STORY OF SIN (1975) – The Blu Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Polish director Walerian Borowczyk, long a filmmaker of experimental shorts, became a beloved celebrity of the arthouse circuit with his first two films, Goto Island of Love and Blanche.  He began to fall out of favor with that crowd after his next two films were deemed pornographic and in bad taste, those films being Immoral Tales and, perhaps his most notorious film, The Beast.  Lensing each of these films in France, where he made his home, The Story of Sin was his triumphant return to his Polish homeland.

The Story of Sin tells the tale of Ewa (Grazyna Dlugolecka), a beautiful yet pious young woman who strives to maintain a life free of sin. Her aging father cannot find work so the family lets rooms to keep afloat.  Enter Lukasz (Jerzy Zelnick), a handsome young man separated from his wife and in need of a room.  It isn’t long before Ewa and Lukasz feel the stirrings of love, but Lukasz leaves for Warsaw to seek a divorce from the Polish Catholic church so he can return and wed Ewa.  Wounded in a duel and close to death, Lukasz sends for Ewa who leaves her job and her family and travels to Warsaw to seek out her true love.  She is able to nurse him back to health and the two finally consummate their love.  But the Polish Catholic church refuses to allow Lukasz to divorce, so he leaves Ewa once more to travel to Rome and appeal directly to the Church.  Thus begins an epic journey that sees Ewa travel across the continent and leaves her debauched at every turn.  Ewa just misses Lukasz in Italy and heads for France where she sinks into a life of prostitution on hearing Lukasz has married another.  Raped and forced to live with her rapist as husband and wife, she is forced to commit murder before being rescued by a kindly gentleman who “collects” poor female waifs to work on his utopian estate.  Ewa eventually finds happiness and contentment there only to be located by her “husband” and his cronies when Lukasz is discovered again.  Will Ewa ever see her dream fulfilled or is she destined to suffer at the hand of every man with whom she has contact?

Alternately lauded as a genius and dismissed as a hack, an exploiter, a pornographer, Borowczyk’s work is now being re-evaluated, and many are gaining a new appreciation for his style.  Borowczyk was a master craftsman as well as a master at mis-en-scene, the cinematic practice of controlling absolutely everything—lighting, camera placement, set decoration and color, even actors—to create meaning from each frame of film.  A painter before becoming a filmmaker, Borowczyk often created “living paintings” for his films—beautiful works of art typically integrated with beautiful classical works of music…with a strong dose of sexuality.  However, after his last two films created great controversy and backlash for their content, Borowczyk, perhaps pragmatically, chose to return to Poland—still under Communist rule—for this next film.  And, perhaps because of the Communists, The Story of Sin, while still containing nudity and sexual situations, is a much more demure film than either Immoral Tales or The Beast.

The message rings out loud and clear: sin is a slippery slope, and even the most pious of us, once we’ve taken those first tentative steps toward sin, find it difficult to turn back.  But a secondary message—another concept contained in Borowcyzk’s films, is that men are essentially pigs.  Poor Ewa doesn’t stand a chance.  Her father is an aging alcoholic, unable to support his family.  The man she loves can’t, or won’t—it’s never entirely clear—obtain a divorce and marry her.  She is pursued by the very rich and the very poor, and taken advantage of by every man she meets.  Even Ewa’s priest, who warns her that men stare at her beauty, can’t resist a peek at her behind as she leaves the confessional.  But, just as Borowczyk decries masculinity, he depicts his female characters as strong.  Thus, Ewa persists in her search for her erstwhile lover through several challenges and tragedies.  She’s no saint—she murders her own baby to continue the search and readily chooses a life of prostitution when she gives up the chase.  But these are choices, no matter how painful they may be, that a strong woman might make, especially in turn-of-the-century Poland.

Borowczyk populates the film with many of his favorite props and sets.  There are many pastoral scenes, a favorite for him to film, as well as looking glasses and old phonographs and other machinery, objects that fascinated the director throughout his life. And, similar to his other films, the soundtrack is filled with beautiful classical music, this time from Mendelssohn and Pachelbel.  Some viewers may describe this film—and most of Borowcyzk’s output—as slow and tedious.  Certainly the 130-minute runtime is long, but I would describe the film as unfolding languidly, in a measured way. Some critics have said the film could do with some editing but I feel like every scene is there for a reason.  I was never bored.  And for those viewers who have only heard of Borowcyzk’s work and are worried about the sexuality in the film, be advised this uncut version isn’t nearly as strong as his other works and is only R-rated—and that mostly for nudity as opposed to actual sexuality, although some sex scenes are present.  But this isn’t The Beast and its scenes of bestial rape; nor is this Immoral Tales and its scenes of frank sexuality.

It is interesting to note that the film didn’t suffer any censorship problems in communist Poland.  Perhaps this was because the film is based upon the famous Polish author Stefan Zeromski’s novel Wages of Sin, which the Polish Catholic church detested. Perhaps the Communist regime—which didn’t favor organized religion–saw Borowcyzk’s adaptation as an attack on the Church and let it pass.  It might also have something to do with the scenes portraying what seems to be a successful Utopian farming estate, complete with happy young women who enjoy their work and are free to come and go as they please.  Regardless, the Communist government apparently didn’t interfere with Borowczyk during filming or during the editing process and The Story of Sin enjoyed tremendous popularity in its home country, even being nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes.

It seems that Arrow Films has lately taken up the cause of Walerian Borowczyk and the company has been busily releasing many of his films in special edition sets, including The Beast, Immoral Tales, and perhaps my favorite, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne.  Each release is gorgeously presented and contains a plethora of special features designed to educate the viewer about Borowczyk’s immense talent as well as filmmaking in general.  The Story of Sin is no less a spectacular release.  This special 2-disc edition features both Blu-ray and standard DVD presentations of a 2K restoration from the original film negative. It contains interviews with star Grazyna Dlugolecka, a discussion of Borowczyk’s Polish filmmaking career with Daniel Bird, and a discussion of Borowczyk’s use of classical music—so vital to all of his films—with filmmaker David Thompson.  I especially enjoyed the discussion of classical music as Thompson makes some astute observations that will enhance the viewer’s enjoyment of all of Borowczyk’s films.  Also included are three of Borowczyk’s film shorts, each of which was given a 2K restoration as well, and an introduction to the film by poster designer Andrzej Klimowski.  But the centerpiece has to be the audio commentary by Diabolique magazine writers Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger, both also of the Daughters of Darkness podcast.  It is enlightening and entertaining though some will find it too academic for their tastes.

I’m impressed that Arrow has chosen not only to release Borowczyk’s films but to do so in deluxe editions, each with a fine set of special features.  I would imagine these won’t be catalog bestsellers as these titles aren’t as well-known as other titles in Arrow’s catalogs.  So kudos to Arrow for stepping up to the plate.  The Story of Sin is a great starting place for fans of arthouse cinema who have been scared away by the notoriety of Borowczyk’s other titles and may well encourage a new generation of fans.  I certainly hope so as I think Borowczyk is vastly underrated and underappreciated.

You can purchase the BD/DVD combo through Amazon or directly from Arrow at http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/category/usa/.