Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Successive Slidings of Pleasure
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s serpentine erotic mystery presented as a surreal investigation into a woman with feared sexual powers.
Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Overview
A young woman is questioned by a detective (Jean-Louis Trintignant, Trans-Europ-Express, The Conformist), a repressed judge (Michael Lonsdale, Moonraker), a curious nun, a sexually-obsessed priest and her lawyer, all of whom suspect her of being a modern witch. The girl who shared her apartment has been found dead, bound to the posts of her bed, a pair of scissors impaled in her heart. Does the woman have the powers to make all around her fall prey to her spell, forcing them to slide progressively into desire, lust and, ultimately, the unknown?
With sadomasochistic imagery, disorienting editing and surreal interludes, Successive Slidings of Pleasure continues the ground-breaking quest to forge a new mode of erotic cinema undertaken by celebrated writer-director Alain Robbe-Grillet (writer of the classic Last Year in Marienbad).
Related
Police Story Police Story
Martial arts 1985 101 mins Director: Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan's mind-blowing, high-octane extravaganza of death-defying stunts and action comedy.
Jesus' Son Jesus' Son
Drama 1999 108 mins Director: Alison Maclean
Billy Crudup stars as a young drifter who gets hooked on heroin in this star-studded story of addiction, recovery and redemption.
The New Boy The New Boy
Drama 2023 96 mins Director: Warwick Thornton
Cate Blanchett is mesmerising as a feverish nun, in Warwick Thornton’s striking tale of spiritual worlds colliding in 1940s Australia.
Point Break Point Break
Action and Adventure 1991 122 mins Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow’s pulse-pounding action thriller and heady bromance, with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
Beasts Clawing at Straws Beasts Clawing at Straws
Crime 2022 109 mins Director: Kim Yong-hoon
The lives of ten strangers collide when a cleaner finds a bag stuffed with money in this slick, jet-black comedy that unspools like a Korean Pulp Fiction. Starring Academy Award winner Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari).
Run Lola Run Run Lola Run
Drama 1998 80 mins Director: Tom Tykwer
Tom Tykwer’s breathtaking time-loop thriller, with a terrific Franka Potente as the titular runner attempting to save her boyfriend.
The Nude Vampire The Nude Vampire
Horror 1969 85 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin’s second vampire film is a mesmerisingly surreal art-horror, short on logic but steeped in gorgeously sensual imagery.
Lips of Blood Lips of Blood
Horror 1975 87 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin’s hauntingly poetic horror about a man trying to solve the riddle of a tormenting childhood memory.
Fascination Fascination
Horror 1979 82 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin’s best-known film is the most full-blooded of his vampire tales, teeming with sex and lavishly filmed gore scenes
Shiver of the Vampires Shiver of the Vampires
Horror 1970 95 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Newlyweds visit their cousins at a remote rural chateau, finding them under the spell of two vampire girls.
Fantastic Planet Fantastic Planet
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 72 mins Director: René Laloux
René Laloux and Roland Topor’s surreal, psychedelic sci-fi animation imagines a world in which humanoid creatures are kept as pets by a race of giants.
Eyes without a Face Eyes without a Face
Horror 1959 90 mins Director: Georges Franju
Georges Franju’s gorgeous, poetic horror film about a surgeon’s dark obsession with restoring his daughter’s disfigured face.
Trans-Europ-Express Trans-Europ-Express
Thriller 1966 95 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
This stylish, cult 1966 erotic thriller stars French New Wave icons Jean-Louis Trintigant and Marie-France Pisier.
Eden and After Eden and After
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1969 98 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s sensual fantasy follows a group of students who enter a bizarre sado-masochistic realm after taking a mysterious drug.
Police Story Police Story
Martial arts 1985 101 mins Director: Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan's mind-blowing, high-octane extravaganza of death-defying stunts and action comedy.
Hapkido Hapkido
Action and Adventure 1972 98 mins Director: Huang Feng
Two martial arts schools battle it out in Huang Feng’s action classic (aka Lady Kung Fu), starring long term collaborator and combat master, Angela Mao.
Project A Project A
Action and Adventure 1983 106 mins Director: Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan’s rip-roaring action-adventure about a coastguard hot on the trail of a ruthless band of pirates in late 19th century Hong Kong.
China O'Brien China O'Brien
Action and Adventure 1991 91 mins Director: Robert Clouse
Cynthia Rothrock stars as the tough city cop and martial artist on the trail of a local crime boss, in this action classic from the director of Enter the Dragon.
Jesus' Son Jesus' Son
Drama 1999 108 mins Director: Alison Maclean
Billy Crudup stars as a young drifter who gets hooked on heroin in this star-studded story of addiction, recovery and redemption.
The New Boy The New Boy
Drama 2023 96 mins Director: Warwick Thornton
Cate Blanchett is mesmerising as a feverish nun, in Warwick Thornton’s striking tale of spiritual worlds colliding in 1940s Australia.