The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne

Director: Walerian Borowczyk

1981 / 97min / DCP

“Borowczyk reboots Stevenson’s oft-filmed novella, going back further to the hypothetical, destroyed first draft. If not true to the tale, then it’s true to Stevenson’s perverted unconscious (or at least the way Borowczyk imagines it). To focus on Mr. Hyde’s bright red (prosthetic) cock, scenes of violent rape (both female and male) and decidedly impolite drawing room farce would fail to do justice to the feverish, apocalyptic tone Borowczyk conjures of Victorian society on-the-brink during a stuffy dinner party. The atmosphere is heavy and woozy, with images both grainy and garish, and Bernard Parmegiani’s electro-acoustic music signaling relentless doom. Occupying a space somewhere between Bataille and Buñuel, this is, nevertheless, pure Borowczyk.”—Daniel Bird, series curator Screens with Scherzo Infernal.