Sylvia Kristel 1970s Collection

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PLAYING WITH FIRE (France, 1975) Alain Robbe-Grillet. Bonus features: 2K Transfer, Audio Commentary by Tim Lucas, Interview with Catherine Robbe-Grillet and more tba.

Playing with Fire: Feature audio commentary by Tim Lucas; Interview with Catherine Robbe-Grillet (5 minutes); Mysteries trailer; Pastorale 1943 trailer; Julia trailer; Poster and stills gallery

It has been rumoured that new (nude or even pornographic) scenes, filmed by another director without the knowledge of Borowczyk, were added for an American cut, known as The Streetwalker, but nobody has ever managed to compare both versions. Mysteries is not the type of movie many of us would expect me to review for Horror Society. However, it’s exactly the type of film that I wanted to review when I started this journey a decade ago. I wanted to review movies that were lost to time and Mysteries is just one of those films. I appreciate that Cult Epics took the chance with this one and included it in their set because it was a lot of fun.

We begin with 1975s Playing with Fire, an absurdist psycho-sexual drama that satirizes the rich and powerful by exploring a surreal sadomasochistic system built for their perverse and disgusting pleasures. Kristel plays a captive in the kidnapping scheme. While her role in this film is small, the film itself is an excellent example of the avant-garde projects Kristel sought out.

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It took me a few days but here I am. I’m finally on the last film in the Sylvia Kristel 1970’s Collection from Cult Epics. This release featured four films from the 70s that supposedly starred Emmanuelle actress Sylvia Kristel. Two of the films so far featured her in a small capacity but it was still awesome to experience these films. However, as I finish up my marathon I find myself hitting play on a movie that I honestly had no interest in watching. I was hoping that 1975’s Playing with Fire would be like Pastorale 1943 and catch me by surprise.

Extras are somewhat sparse but uniformly interesting. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find on each disc. (Note that the same trailers for Mysteries, Pastorale 1943, and Julia are repeated on each disc. A trailer for Playing with Fire is absent from the collection.)

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Julia: Feature audio commentary by Jeremy Richey; poster and lobby card gallery; Julia trailer; Mysteries trailer; Pastorale 1943 trailer The set's two Dutch films are co-starring Rutger Hauer, and Sylvia at the peak of her career. Submitted for the 1978 First of all, the good news is that the frame skip with Jean in the club appears lessened from the previous master. The other, later one with Emmanuelle and Ariane at the sports club has been eliminated, possibly by cutting away a moment earlier. She survived to work again, directing a short animated film, Topor and Me (2004), which won an award at the Tribeca film festival in 2006. Two years ago, I attended the Pula festival in Croatia where she was invited for the showing of Two Sunny Days, a Croatian film in English, directed by Ognjen Svilicic, in which she appeared in a small but important role. I had the pleasure of sharing a car with her on a two-hour drive to Zagreb, during which she chatted cheerfully about her career.