X is for X-Rated in America
One of the most controversial films of its era, Makavejev’s provocative meditation on the relationship between sexual energy and political force revolves around a portrait of the iconoclastic psychologist Wilhelm Reich and his disciples, potently intercut with imagery of Soviet leader Josef Stalin (culled mainly from social-realist fiction films) and juxtaposed with the purely fictional tale of a young Yugoslavian woman’s fatal passion for a frigid Soviet skating star. Attacked by feminists, banned by bureaucrats, and beloved by art film audiences, W.R. remains a valuable summation of the formal inventiveness and anarchic social vision that emerged from the new waves of the 1960s.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
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Cinema A–Z: Treasures from the Harvard ...
The Last Laugh
Directed by F.W. Murnau, 1924
Live Piano Accompaniment by Yakov GubanovScreening on Film
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Cinema A–Z: Treasures from the Harvard ...
The Last Command
Directed by Josef von Sternberg, 1928
Live Piano Accompaniment by Yakov GubanovScreening on Film
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Cinema A–Z: Treasures from the Harvard ...
Trailers, Trailers, Trailers
Introduction by HFA Conservator Julie BuckScreening on Film