In the garden of the Excelsior, that night, you could hear the breathing of the enthralled viewers, you could feel the shiver running through the audience. — Michelangelo Antonioni, 1934*
The 4K restoration of EXTASE (1932, directed by Gustav Machatý) will premiere this week on the Lido, as the pre-opening event of the 76th Venice International Film Festival.
“The film-scandal of the 2nd Venice International Film Festival in 1934—where it won the Coppa Città di Venezia for Best Director— EXTASE (Ecstasy)… owes its notoriety to a series of circumstances: the display of the body of the 19-year-old Hedy Kiesler (before she took the name Hedy Lamarr in Hollywood); the first full nudity in mainstream cinema; the first ever scene of sexual intercourse, hinted at in the close-ups of the two lovers’ faces; the useless attempts of Kiesler’s husband, arms dealer Fritz Mandl, to buy up all the copies in circulation; and a general trend in many countries to censure the film for its overt eroticism, excessive for the time.”*
Tuesday, August 27, at 9 pm.
Sala Darsena
Via Candia, 18, Lido, Venice.
Additional screenings:
Thursday, August 29, at 4:45 pm.
Sala Volpi
Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi, 30, Lido, Venice.
Gustav Machatý, Extase, 1932: Hedy Lamarr (as Hedy Kiesler) (4); with Aribert Mog, third from top.