Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- provocative
- surreal
- baroque
- arthouse cinema night
- surrealist film program
What critics said
Critics broadly recognize the film’s elegant imagery and surrealist detachment while finding its episodic construction and exploitation-oriented eroticism uneven and sometimes superficial.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film presents four separate tales spanning contemporary and historical settings.
The castle, papal setting, ritualized orgy, and blood imagery emphasize composed, lavishly provocative tableaux.
Modern criticism specifically identifies the detached camera and unsensational approach as closer to surrealist cinema than pornography.
The Lucrezia Borgia episode centers on incestuous sexual excess involving Lucrezia, her brother, and the Pope.
Films like Immoral Tales, and why
The Story of Sin
Shared erotic art cinema, historical spectacle, surrealist imagery, and transgressive themes.
The Devils
Shared baroque eroticism, period settings, taboo sexuality, and provocative visual stylization.
The Phantom of Liberty
Shared episodic structure, surrealist sensibility, erotic provocation, and critique of religious morality.
Movie Details
- Director
- Walerian Borowczyk
- Release Date
- 1974-08-28
- Runtime
- 125 min
- Rating
- 5.9 / 10 (291)
Cast
- Lise Danvers
- Fabrice Luchini
- Charlotte Alexandra
- Lisbeth Hummel
- Paloma Picasso
- Pascale Christophe
- Florence Bellamy
- Lorenzo Berinizi
- Jacopo Berinizi
- Philippe Desboeuf
Common questions
- What is Immoral Tales about?
- Walerian Borowczyk’s provocative four-part anthology turns forbidden desire, religious hypocrisy, and historical cruelty into ornate surrealist erotic tableaux.
- What is Immoral Tales like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Immoral Tales as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Immoral Tales violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Immoral Tales as graphic.
- What did critics think of Immoral Tales?
- Critics broadly recognize the film’s elegant imagery and surrealist detachment while finding its episodic construction and exploitation-oriented eroticism uneven and sometimes superficial.
- Which films are like Immoral Tales?
- Films with a similar feel include The Story of Sin, The Devils, and The Phantom of Liberty.
- How long is Immoral Tales?
- Immoral Tales runs 125 minutes.
