Story of Sin – Arrow Academy (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Poland, 1975
Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Writer: Walerian Borowczyk
Cast: Grazyna Dlugolecka, Jerzy Zelnik, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Roman Wilhelmi, Marek Walczewski, Karolina Lubienska, Zdzislaw Mrozewski, Mieczyslaw Voit, Marek Bargielowski, Jolanta Szemberg, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Wladyslaw Hancza, Jadwiga Chojnacka

Release Date: March 13th, 2017 (UK), March 28th, 2017 (USA)
Approximate Running Time: 130 Minutes 45 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono Polish
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free (Blu-ray)/Region 0 NTSC (DVD)
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK), $39.95 (USA)

"The life of a beautiful, young and pious woman is thrown into chaos when her parents takes in a dashingly handsome lodger. Having embarked on a torrid affair, the lodger goes off to Rome to seek a divorce from his estranged wife. Unable to live apart from her beloved, our hero leaves home only to fall prey to the infatuations and lusts of a band of noble admirers, unsavoury criminals and utopian do-gooders…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Story of Sin was restored by Fixafilm for TOR Film Production. The film is presented in its original aspect ration of 1.66:1 with the original mono soundtrack. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pinless Lasergraphics Director using the 3-flash HDR mode.

Film grading and restoration was completed at Fixafilm, Warsaw at 2.5K resolution.

Flickering caused by chemical degradation of the negative was minimized. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools.

Restoration supervised by Wojtek Janio (Fixafilm) and James White (Arrow) in cooperation with Daniel Bird (friend of Walerian Borowczyk).

This restoration has been approved by Grzegorz Kedzierski, an associate of director of photography Zygmunt Samosiuk.

Research into the production history of Story of Sin revealed that a defective camera used for part of filming resulted in a visible jitter during some parts of the film. This has been removed with the approval of Grzegorz Kedzierski and Daniel Bird.

The original materials were licensed and accessed through TOR Film Production, Poland."

Story of Sin comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.8 GB

Feature: 33.8 GB

The source used for this transfer has undergone extensive restoration, and the end result is a spectacular-looking transfer that is on par with Arrow’s other Walerian Borowczyk Blu-ray releases. Colors and flesh tones look correct, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Polish with removable English subtitles. Dialog comes through with the utmost clarity; everything sounds balanced and robust when it needs to, especially the score's main theme. Range-wise, this is an area that far exceeds all expectations, as there is a tremendous amount of depth and the more ambient aspects of the soundtrack are well represented throughout.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with English text), an introduction by poster designer Andrzej Klimowski (8 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay by Daniel Bird titled Stories of Sin (11 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled The Music Box (19 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Grazyna Dlugolecka titled The First Sinner (23 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Polish with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger, a video essay on Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica’s contributions to newsreels, and documentaries on art history titled Miscellaneous (7 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with English text), a short newsreel documentary about poster art co-written by Walerian Borowczyk titled Street Art (11 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Polish with removable English subtitles), an interview with Juliusz Zamecznik, son of photographer and graphic artist Wojciech Zamecznik titled Tools of the Trade (6 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with poster artist, illustrator and printmaker Teresa Byszewska, who appears briefly in Dom titled Poster Girl (4 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Polish with removable English subtitles), a new 2K restorations from the original negatives of Walerian Borowczyk’s ground-breaking Polish shorts co-directed by Jan Lenica, Once Upon a Time (9 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital mono, Polish text with removable English subtitles, an optional audio commentary track with art historian Szymon Bojko, in English), Dom (11 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital mono, Polish text with removable English subtitles, an optional audio commentary track with composer Wlodzimierz Kotonsk, in Polish with removable English subtitles), and The School (7 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono, Polish text with removable English subtitles, an optional audio commentary track with Daniel Bird, in English), reversible cover art, and a 40-page booklet (first pressing only) with cast and crew information, Andrzej Zulawski on Story of Sin, an essay titled Borowczyk: Movie Magician written by Szymon Bojko, Walerian Borowczyk: An Interview (Interview was conducted in 1975), An Interview with director Stanislaw Rozewicz by Daniel Bird, an essay titled Poland’s Immoral Subconscious: Borowczyk’s Polish Years written by Daniel Bird, Short Films and Miscellaneous (Cast & Crew information for the short films included with this release), and information about the restorations.

Included with this release is a DVD that has the same content as the Blu-ray included as part of this combo release.

Summary:

Directed by Walerian Borowczyk, an animator turned provocative filmmaker whose notable films include Goto, Isle of Love, Blanche, The Beast, and The Margin.

The narrative revolves around Eva, who has fallen in love with a new lodger who has moved into her parents home. Unknown to Eva, he is a married man who is unable to get a divorce from his wife. Not wanting to let go of her new-found love, she chases after him, and along the way, she falls prey to other men.

Story of Sin is loosely based on Stefan Zeromski's novel Dzieje grzechu (Story of Sin). And when viewed in the larger context of Walerian Borowczyk’s oeuvre, it is astonishing that the same person who directed this poetic period drama would later, in the same year, direct the borderline pornographic film The Beast.

Though Story of Sin’s subject matter features themes that predominate throughout Walerian Borowczyk's filmography, The one major difference between Story of Sin and Walerian Borowczyk's more well-known subversive films is the subtle and not pervasive way in which the story is told.

Story of Sin is filled with lush photography and long, languid shots. Story of Sin's strongest asset is actress Grazyna Dlugolecka, who made her acting debut in the role of Eva. Her transformation from a naive young woman into a victim who has lost all of herself is heartbreaking and tragic. Throughout The Story of Sin, her character meets several shady men who make promises to her that they never planned to keep.

Standout moments include a scene where Eva has just received roses and covers her body as she lies naked in bed. And a scene where Eva is cornered and forced to be the property of one of the men has been obsessing over her. And a scene where Eva sets the apartment she has been staying at on fire after she helped rob and murder another one of her admirers.

From a production standpoint, there is not a single area where Story of Sin does not deliver in spades. The narrative is meticulously constructed, and pacing is never an issue as key moments are given an ample amount of time to resonate. The characters are well defined, and their motivations are never in doubt. Ultimately, The Story of Sin is an extraordinary melodrama that has languished in the shadows for far too long.

Story of Sin gets a definitive release from Arrow Academy; highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer