Well, maybe you would, but that wasn't the case with Juan Luis Bunuel, whose 1974 effort, The Woman with Red Boots, is a fleetingly effective assault starring Catherine Deneuve and Fernando Rey. Deneuve, of course, starred quite memorably in the elder Bunuel's legendary black comedy, Belle de Jour (1967), and Rey appeared in his biting late-career masterpiece, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972.) The Woman with Red Boots, while decently shot and sometimes relatively amusing, is...um...not as good as those other movies. If you're not in the right mood, it may even irritate you. But, to be fair, you can say the same thing about The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie!
It's always tough to describe this sort of thing, since half the point is to keep people scratching their heads while mysterious non-sequiturs are thrown at them. Relatively speaking, Deneuve plays Francoise, an avant-garde writer who has a chance encounter with Perrot (Rey), a vaguely sinister millionaire-art collector. During their initial meeting, Francoise, who approaches Perrot in a cafe, fully dressed, suddenly whips open her coat to reveal a flesh-toned body suit, complete with fake pubic hair. Then she closes the coat, and is wearing a sweater and jeans again. That's what you're getting into, folks, and it's only a few minutes into the picture.
Soon, Perrot is manipulating Francoise's life, even going so far as to have her write a book for him in a secure location. Then he introduces a happily married man named Mark into the mix. But Francoise is not so easily controlled. She has the strange ability to conjure up visions from the past, which throws a wrench into Perrot's (not particularly specific) plans for her and Mark. At one point, you get to see Rey jump out of bed growling, with a pillow caught between his teeth. His housekeeper helps him out of the jam by ripping it apart with her own mouth. Don't say I didn't warn you.
David Lynch fans who have conditioned themselves to think that anything nonsensical springs from twisted genius may get a kick out of The Woman with Red Boots. Everyone else, sorry to say, should stick to Bunuel's dad. Pathfinder hasn't done very much to make the package more enticing. The film is presented letterboxed, but was taken from an obviously faded color print, and there's an audible hiss on the soundtrack. They've included filmographies, French, Spanish and English subtitles, and a pretty shabby still gallery. The trailer, as is so often the case, is presented without the least bit of touching up, so it looks and sounds absolutely dreadful. It is, however, pretentious enough for a good chuckle.
For more information about The Woman With Red Boots/B>, visit Pathfinder Films. To order The Woman With Red Boots, go to TCM Shopping.
by Paul Tatara
