Three of François Ozon's first transgressive feature films

Kink, murder, incest, and cannibalism. These are just a few of FranÃ§ois Ozon's favorite things in his early features. A masterful chameleon of genre and style with more than 20 years of filmmaking under his belt, Ozon has built a vast and versatile body of work and while he may have gained the spotlight after the critically acclaimed and elegantly subtle 'Under the Sand' (2000), this collection rediscovers Ozon's brash roots with a trilogy like no other.

SITCOM (1998)
An upper-middle-class nuclear family experiences upheaval when they adopt a laboratory mouse as their new pet. As each member interacts with the new addition to the household, the animal exerts a strange power that prompts them to explore their repressed psychosexual desires. A satire of bourgeois values - something of a cross between John Waters and Luis BuÃ±uel - Ozon offers surreal delights and a rollercoaster of perversions in Sitcom.

CRIMINAL LOVERS (1999)
An audacious queer take on Hansel and Gretel, Criminal Lovers starts with a thrill kill that sends its protagonists, Alice and Luc, down the rabbit hole. Like a wannabe Bonnie and Clyde, the couple flee their safe suburban lives before getting lost in the woods, only to find themselves trapped by a psychotic woodsman. What awaits in his cellar - from sexual enlightenment to karmic retribution - must be seen to be believed.

WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS (2000)
Water Drops on Burning Rocks adapts an unproduced play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Ozon's favorite filmmaker - in which Franz, a naÃ¯ve 19-year-old, is seduced by a smug-yet-alluring, 50-year-old businessman Leopold, quickly moving into his apartment. Domestic bliss is short-lived as a sadomasochistic relationship takes root and the power dynamics continue to shift upon the arrival of both men's ex-girlfriends: the spry Anna and mysterious VÃ©ra. This mÃ©nage Ã quatre leads to sex, despair, and, of course, a musical number.

Bonus Materials

New Interview with Actor StÃ©phane Rideau
Commentary Track for 'Water Drops on Burning Rocks' by Cerise Howard and Rohan Spong
Video Essay 'Little Deaths: Loss and Coming of Age in FranÃ§ois Ozon's First Chapter' by Kat Ellinger
Pull-out Poster with Artwork by Pierre et Gilles
Critical Essay by Juan Barquin and Trae DeLellis
Compilation Trailer
Other Trailers

Cast & Crew

Actors:

Salim Kechiouche
Adrien De Van
Anna Thomson
Bernard Giraudeau
Ãvelyne Dandry
FranÃ§ois Marthouret
JÃ©rÃ©mie Renier
Lucia Sanchez
Ludivine Sagnier
Malik Zidi
Marina De Van
Miki Manojlovic
Natacha RÃ©gnier
StÃ©phane Rideau

Director: FranÃ§ois Ozon

Additional Details

Label: Altered Innocence

Genre: Gay/Lesbian

Language: French

Run Time: 263 mins

Region: 1

Release Date: 06/25/24

UPC: 688187004662

Altered Innocence

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She Is Conann (Blu-ray)

Ozon's Transgressive Triple: Sitcom, Criminal Lovers, and Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Blu-ray)

Ozon's Transgressive Triple: Sitcom, Criminal Lovers, and Water Drops on Burning Rocks (DVD)

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