Histoires Extraordinaires

A compendium of three Poe stories. Vadim's (Metzengerstein) carries with it an aura of perversity, due not so much to the fetishistic clothes and decor as to the casting of Jane Fonda and brother Peter as the lovers. With his death, she resorts to a totem black stallion as a substitute, and the film itself falls apart. Malle's piece (William Wilson), a not particularly riveting variation on the Doppelgänger theme, has Alain Delon 1 (looking slightly bewildered) being chased by Alain Delon 2 (looking even more bewildered). Bardot puts in an appearance, looking odd in a black wig. Meticulously done, but not much to do with Poe; only Fellini (Toby Dammit) really manages to make much of his source. Stamp comes to Rome as the actor chosen to play Christ in the first Catholic Western (a cross between Dreyer and Pasolini, with a touch of Ford). He plays a man at the end of his tether, and as his obsessions take over, so do Fellini's. In many ways the sequence foreshadows Roma. It's overdone and strained, but worthwhile for Stamp's curious performance.