Mistress of Seduction

Starring:Eva Bell, Brian Benbenek, Michael Boisvert, Shelly Campbell, Andy Catano, Fred Coffee, GiGi Erneta, Joel Fredrick, John David Gregory, Joe B. Hall, Alexa Lane, Val Lauren, Johanna Parker, Kirstin Pierce, Chris Raffaele, Orly Tepper, Alison Thomas, David Van Antwerp, Kerry Vitiello
Studio: Ventura Distribution
Product Type: DVD

Boudu Saved from Drowning - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

Civilization and Its Discontents
Hilarious.
a very nice film
Sophisticated And Warm, An Excellent Comedy By Jean Renoir
The Dionysian anarchy !

Boudu Saved from Drowning - Criterion Collection
Starring: Michel Simon , Marcelle Hainia , Sévérine Lerczinska , Jean Gehret , and Max Dalban
Director: Jean Renoir
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009WIE2K
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Amazon.com essential video

Long before there were hippies, there was, sublimely, Boudu. In 1932 director Jean Renoir and French star Michel Simon, fresh from their early-sound triumph La Chienne, decided to re-team in adapting a stage farce about a derelict rescued from the river by a bookseller and groomed for bourgeois society. The bookseller's idea proves to be disastrous, though working through all the possibilities for disruption and catastrophe is a slow-gathering and hilarious process. Simon always seemed as much force of nature as mere actor, and his and Renoir's inspiration is to make Boudu the vagabond not a satyr or opportunist or noble savage or de facto sociopolitical anarchist, but simply an oversized manchild with no more guile or conscious agenda than the shaggy dog whose sudden defection led him to throw himself into the Seine. If his insistence on leaving a downy-soft bed to sleep in the hall happens to block the door to the maid's room, where his benefactor Lestingois is wont to sneak after the wife's asleep, well, Boudu doesn't really plan it that way. And if he leaves a wet lugie between the pages of a first-edition Balzac, well, they asked him not to spit on the floor, after all!

We can see that the original farce (by René Fauchois) was probably pretty funny to begin with, but Renoir makes of it much, much more. Boudu Saved from Drowning--arguably the first French New Wave film, nearly 30 years before there was a New Wave--is one of those cardinal works in which we can see, and experience anew, a great filmmaker inventing the cinema. Without jettisoning the formal qualities of the theatrical farce, Renoir opens his film to light, fresh air, and the teeming multifariousness of Parisian street life; the denizens of the city become unwitting extras in the movie as Boudu first shambles, then prances, among them. The deep-focus camerawork is exhilarating, but even the gregarious roughness of the production feels right, indeed essential. "I believe that perfection is even dangerous," Renoir remarked of his own movie. "If a film is perfect, the public has nothing to add.... The audience should always be trying to finish a picture, ... fill in the holes which we didn't fill." Collaborating on Boudu is a glorious experience. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

After well-to-do bookseller Edouard Lestingois (Charles Granval) rescues a tramp from a suicidal plunge into the Seine, his family adopts the bum and dedicates itself to reforming him. The irrepressible Boudu (Michel Simon) shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations, challenging the hidebound principles of his hosts and seducing them with his anarchic charm. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and a brilliant performance by Simon to create an effervescent satire of bourgeois complacency.

Customer Reviews:

Civilization and Its Discontents.......2007-06-09

In BOUDU Renoir's satire is never cruel; he shows affection for all of his silly characters--and NO ONE escapes a ribbing.

Boudu is pure id (imagine Walt Whitman on a three-day bender), but he has no real malice toward anyone. Lestingois is driven by a sincere and utterly self-serving sense of compassion. He thinks he can bring this wild animal into his house and groom and curry him until he personifies the bookseller's own generosity. And he thinks he can do this without any noticeable disruption in his own carefully ordered universe. Boudu consents to apply polish to his shoes, yes; then he wipes the excess fresh polish off with the aid of a white bedspread. At every turn, china shop meets bull. It's lovely.

Hilarious........2006-10-12

I'm not into a lot of analysis and social commentary like many of the reviewers of this film seem to be. And I have nothing against the bourgeoisie--average middle class people make the world go round (and I bet that most people who review films on Amazon are very middle-class, enjoying the comforts of 21st century America--which are considerably more than the comforts of 1930's France.) I can see that if there was a real Boudu, I would not want him in my house for very long, if at all (the man spits in books! He uses clean bed quilts to wipe his dirty feet!) However, all social commentary aside, this is one of the funniest movies ever. Michel Simon is a comic genius. The physical things he does, the way he talks just continually crack you up--he would be funny in a moview by himself. But it's even funnier here to watch him react with the other people in the movie, who are all really good actors and excellent straight men (and women). If you just want to laugh and laugh, watch this.

a very nice film.......2006-03-13

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Boudu saved from drowning" known in France as "Boudu sauvé des eaux" is a comedy about a Parisian bookseller who rescues a homeless man from a suicide attempt. He takes him in but his poor manners bother those around him.

The film is directed by Jean Renoir known for many other great classic French films. The film has some great scenes of 1930's Paris and good acting.

The DVD has plenty of extra features also.
There is an old introduction to the film by Jean Renoir, an interactive map of 1930's Paris specializing in the film's locations, a new interview with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin, scenes from a program featuring Jean Renoir and Michel Simon, and a video conversation between film director Eric Rohmer and movie critic Jean Douchet

The interactive map feature was very well done and shows how the filming locations appear today.

Overall, this is a very fine movie and I recommend it.

Sophisticated And Warm, An Excellent Comedy By Jean Renoir.......2005-09-30

Turning off the water in the sink is as alien an idea to Boudu as not spitting on the dining room rug. Watching him try to clean bootblack from his hands is to watch the destruction of a kitchen. He's as oblivious to others as a strong wind blowing through a garden. One critic said the character of Boudu was like a ball in a pinball machine. Boudu (Michel Simon) is a scruffy tramp who jumps off a bridge in Paris when he loses his dog. Edouard Lestingois (Charles Granval) is a chubby, middle-aged bookseller, very much a member of the bourgeoisie, who rushes out of his shop, leaps into the river, saves Boudu and takes him into his home. Lestingois has a wife who is proper and cool. He employs a maid who is lusty and accommodating. Boudu will change their lives.

Boudu is an anarchic force of nature, stuffing his sardine dinner into his mouth with his hands and spitting his wine onto the floor. For Lestingois, who at first is pleased with himself for his heroism and with taking in such a specimen of the lower class, life becomes complicated and frustrating. He enjoys his trysts with the maid, Anne-Marie, but he recognizes he's getting a bit old. "She's charming," he says, "but last night I fell asleep before I could join her. No doubt about it, I'm growing old. My pipes are weary, and soon some shepherd will lure her with his youthful flute." Boudu, however, soon wearies of sleeping in a bed and takes to sleeping in the hall, next to Anne-Marie's door. "I get bored all alone in my room," Anne Marie tells Lestingois. "I'm not exactly jumping for joy in my room, either," he says. "Are you sorry you saved him?" she asks. "At night, I am."

Madame Lestingois, however, once Boudu is convinced to get a haircut and wear a proper suit, may not be quite the piece of ice she appears to be. When Boudu has the opportunity to closely inspect a small birthmark on Madame Lestingois' chest, well, it's not long before Madame Lestingois hears trumpets playing.

Boudu remains the same, wrapped up in his own world and with his own behavior, refusing a favor, turning back an innocent inquiry, tickling the bottom of Anne Marie, enjoying Madame Lestingois, making himself obliviously at home with Edouard Lestingois. He's a natural force that can't be controlled and, for some, barely endured. By the end of the movie it appears, however, that a lottery ticket and the prospect of lustful marriage to Anne Marie may finally tame Boudu. "For once, both modern morals and the laws of nature are satisfied," says a member of the wedding party. Fortunately, a lily floating on the river and a bad sense of balance bring Boudu back the life he had. He may have been saved from drowning at the start of the movie, but he's saved from bourgeois respectability at the end.

This is a marvelously sophisticated and warm comedy. Everybody has their foibles exposed and no one really gets hurt. Michel Simon as Boudu is simply unique. "I watch Boudu often," says Jean Renoir in a filmed introduction to the movie, "not because I revel in contemplation of my past work, but simply because of Michel Simon." Charles Granval as Lestingois is just about as good.

The Criterion DVD presentation is first rate. There are several extras which are interesting and informative, including an interview made 35 years later with Renoir and Simon discussing the movie.

The Dionysian anarchy !.......2005-09-08

After a suicide attempt, a beggar (Michel Simon) is saved from the waters by an antiquarian bestseller. The rest runs for you because the only fact to intend describe it it would break the magic spell.
A tour de force film, in the same line of Rene Clair' s Paris belongs us.
A magisterial masterpiece.

Average customer rating:

Great Thriller!!!
Vampirina soo fine
A surprisingly tame lesbian vampire film
killa vamp chick fight flick!
Mistaken seduction

Mistress of Seduction
Starring: Eva Bell , Brian Benbenek , Michael Boisvert , Shelly Campbell , and Andy Catano
Manufacturer: Ventura Distribution
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Customer Reviews:

Great Thriller!!!.......2005-08-11

This is a great thriller about a phone sex syndicate.It's a must see that should be on DVD!!!!!!!!

Vampirina soo fine.......2004-07-19

The Girls are natural and hot! The lead girl has talent a good BITCH!. The other "GOOD" girl looks great and seems warmer.
then the back ground eyecandy is nice as well.
The males seemed to be lifeless great IF the were already vampired. The FX are good the blood bath scene. was really well done.
A great effort i hope the co makes more and better entertainment
in the future.

A surprisingly tame lesbian vampire film.......2004-01-31

Seduction Cinema puts out a lot of bad films alongside a good handful of pretty darn entertaining films; it's usually either all or nothing with these guys. Mistress of Seduction doesn't fit the bill, really; this film falls flat early on and stays there. The story certainly afforded the filmmakers a golden opportunity to give us fans what we want, but all we got was a whole lot of not much. Alysabeth Clements stars as Vamparina, a centuries-old vampire who has been tracking down the soul who killed her father long, long ago (her father was supposedly Count Dracula himself according to the movie summaries I've seen, but nothing in the movie really pointed me to such a conclusion). Clements is not really my idea of beautiful, but she does do a little sizzling of the screen with that vampiress attire of hers and that smoldering red hair. With the help of her latest lesbian victim, she finally discovers the location of her hated nemesis John (who doesn't even know what he did in his past life). As it happens, John's sister is also a lesbian, so there are all sorts of sexual goings-on taking place on both sides of the storyline. Unfortunately, all of these little girl-girl get-togethers are exceedingly boring; nothing happens beyond some kissing and heavy petting, and you won't find any complete nudity in this movie. I only emphasize this point because the same cannot be said of the vast majority of Seduction Cinema movies.

On a more positive note, the filmmakers did at least emphasize the horror aspect of the whole vampire thing this time around. It's true they played weird noises that sounded like someone crunching into dry cereal every time a vampire sank her teeth into someone's jugular, but it's also true that we actually do get to see blood and just a tiny, tiny amount of gore here. Little good can be said of the acting; I thought Alysabeth Clements was pretty good as Vamparina, but the other actors and actresses brought very little to their roles. In one scene, two buddies are having a heated argument, yet both of them look bored to death throughout the scene.

If you are a fan of vampire films, especially lesbian vampire films, Mistress of Seduction does have a little bit to offer you. If you are only interested in the types of sexual escapades frequently featured in other Seduction Cinema films, though, you may find little more than disappointment here.

killa vamp chick fight flick!.......2002-02-25

Wowwee, good wicked stuff here. Lead vamp was hot hot hot hot hot! In other words, hot! Also the chick who played enemy of the vampire was also hot - even hotter if you are into blondes! Loved seeing them kick each others butts. One of 'em steps on the other one's head! Then they punch each other and slap each other, like a catfight vamp flick!

If you like seeing chick vamps fight and rip each other and their hapless prey, you're gonna love Mistress of S!

Mistaken seduction.......2001-12-22

For those of you who enjoy a few naked vampires, this movie will only be partly fullfilling - example, a woman gets in the bath, but she's still wearing her panties! What's the point in that? The plot is minimal, a vampire woman must seduce a man because he killed her master in a previous re-incarnation!? Talk about stupid. This film's also shot on video, so don't expect a big-budget effect. Leave this one behind.

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