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Malpertuis
Orson Welles stars in this labyrinthine mythological fantasy set in a baroque mansion, from the director of Daughters of Darkness.
Director: Harry Kümel
Overview
Adapted from a celebrated novel by ‘the Belgian Edgar Allen Poe’, Jean Ray, Harry Kümel’s film sees a young sailor return to his family home Malpertuis – a labyrinthine mansion of endless corridors and secret chambers – to find it rife with intrigue. Ailing uncle Cassavius (Orson Welles) has pledged to divide his estate to his heirs, but only if they promise to never again leave the house.
Jean Cocteau’s influence is evident in this labyrinthine mythological fantasy. Finance issues forced Kümel to make Daughters of Darkness (1971), a wintry, languorous vampire tale that made his reputation, before he could turn to the project that was close to his heart. Oppressively opulent and flamboyantly baroque, the film, like the mansion itself, is a beguilingly disorientating world in which to get endlessly lost.
strong gore, violence, sex, nudity, horror
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