ECSTASY (Czechoslovakia-Aut / 1933)

There have been a number of films throughout cinema history that have primarily etched their place in the hearts and minds of the moviegoing audience due to reasons other than artistic: Ecstasy (Ekstase) is one of them. Directed by Gustav Machat (1901-1963) -- one of the pioneers of Czechoslovak cinema who in his formative years served as an assistant under the likes of Griffith and von Stroheim -- the film is most "notorious" for the nudity and orgasmic exploits of its leading lady, the Austrian-born beauty Hedy Kiesler (1914-2000), who went on to achieve fame and fortune in Hollywood as Hedy Lamarr. 

As thin as the variety of evening gowns she dons throughout the film, the storyline has young Eva (Kiesler) recently married to a stoic elderly capitalist (Zvonimir Rogoz) who either can't or won't cater to her physical and emotional needs. Eva eventually returns home to her fathers estate and gets the divorce proceedings underway. Ecstasy isnt a silent, but Machat essentially relates the events through his potpourri of cinematic techniques (Soviet avant-gardist, in particular) and Giuseppe Becce's expressive score. Both come into play during the two (in)famous, though relatively brief, sequences: one features a very naked Eva attempting to chase down her horse after skinny dipping, and while doing so coming upon a handsome and muscular foreman (Aribert Mog) toiling with his crew nearby; and in the other, the said young man becomes the catalyst for Evas orgasmic state (while tastefully shot, this scene is not nearly as sensual and erotic as the dream relay from LAtalante [1934]). 

Besides overtly relying on his at once precious and heavy-handed sexually suggestive symbolism, Machat also bogs down the film with late melodramatics. Due to its content, it's not surprising that various edited versions of Ecstasy have played around the world since its release, including the U.S. Even the relatively new remastered edition is the German cut of the film, reportedly one of the three initially prepared (the ending in it especially seem compromised). By most accounts, the original print contains even more of "Eva," not to mention a horse-@#%$ session, and is devoid of the minor socially and politically correct inserts.

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*Related: Machat's The Kreutzer Sonata (1926) by wpqx