The Story of Sin

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Nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, Walerian Borowczyk's The Story of Sin is a tragic romance based on the turn-of-the-century literary classic by acclaimed Polish writer Stefan Zeromski. Now, Borowczyk's masterpiece is being made available for the first time ever on DVD, courtesy of Nouveaux Pictures.

Passionate melodrama, surrealist erotica and the rapturous strains of Mendelssohn collide head on in The Story of Sin - the tale of Eva, a young Victorian girl whose passionate affair with a married man leads to betrayal, infanticide, prostitution and a final heroic and grotesque act of self-sacrifice.

Based on Stefan Zeromski's novel, Dzieje Grzechu (which was placed on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books), The Story of Sin is Borowczyk's only feature to be shot in his native Poland. The film meticulously recreates a time in which the director's country had no official existence, casting a cynical eye on a corrupt society committed to exploiting the innocent and repressing the erotic.

In Borowczyk's hands a corset, dried rose petals and an antiquated phonograph all crackle with restless sexual energy. Featuring a startling debut by Grazyna Dlugolecka, The Story of Sin is not only one of Borowczyk's most successful films, but also his most prescient.

The Story of Sin will be released on DVD by Nouveaux Pictures on 7th June 2004.