“Sex has nothing to do with morals, not even with aesthetics. Sex is a metaphysical affair,” Eustache said. Hence this two-part film, “a contemporary treatment of sexuality, of communication, presented in yesterday's manner, like a philosophical discussion in a salon.” The first half, shot on 35mm, creates a sophisticated atmosphere for a sordid tale of voyeurism, told by Michael Lonsdale in the first person to a small group of friends, who discuss its implications with bemused detachment. In the second iteration (actually filmed first), shot on 16mm in a casual documentary style, the same story is presented by Jean-Noël Picq. The two pieces add up to a sly experiment in performance and the limits of credibility, as well as “a very funny rumination on sexual imagination in the age of pornographic reproduction” (Nick Pinkerton, Moving Image Source).
—Juliet Clark