Concert

Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Release date: 1962
Rating: ★★
Review:

‘Concert’ stars Monsieur and Madame Kabal from the later feature film ‘Théâtre de Monsieur & Madame Kabal’ from 1967. This couple, a short man who constantly drinks and a grotesque tall woman with a hooked nose, are known for their domestic violence, and ‘Concert’ is no exception. When Madame Kabal catches Monsieur Kabal snoring through her piano recital her revenge is severe.

Unfortunately, Borowczyk’s cut-out animation is crude and emblematic, and even the violence is rather abstract. Even worse, a lot of time is wasted on less interesting scenes. Moreover, Monsieur and Madame Kabal are neither interesting or appealing characters and Borowcyk does nothing to establish their relationship. Thus, it doesn’t interest the viewer at all what happens to them on the screen, a problem that also haunts Borowczyk’s feature animation film.

Luckily, the next year Borowczyk would prove he could do much better with ‘Encyclopédie de Grand-Maman en 13 Volumes ‘ and especially the dark stop-motion short ‘Renaissance‘.

Watch ‘Concert’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Concert’ is available on the Blu-Ray/DVD set ‘Walerian Borowczyk: Short Films and Animation’