Horror Extreme Movie Catalog
The Balcony
Directed By:
Joseph Strick
Theatrical Release Date: 1963
MPAA Rating: 
Studio: Image Entertainment
Editorial Review - Description
In a very special brothel known as "The Balcony," the customers live out their wildest dreams, oblivious to a revolution that is going on outside. Directed by the award-winning Joseph Strick and based on acclaimed French avant-garde dramatist Jean Genet's play, this star-packed film features Shelley Winters as the brothel's madam and Peter Falk as her occasional lover, who enlists her help in halting the revolution. A young Leonard Nimoy heads the rebels, and Lee Grant is the madam's executive assistant who longs to return to her former role as just "one of the girls." With its insightfulness and delightfully fresh sense of humor, "The Balcony" continues to provide a great view of the world's ironies.
Pure DeSade
A Customer Review by PJR
The vile Marquis was also a philosopher and proposed that the obstacle to true democracy was that some individuals are driven to lord it over others. His solution was freedom for sexual perversions. Let them take out their needs in brothels and private bedrooms instead of positions of power.
Genet develops this theme by showing individuals taking out their fantasies of power with girls in a brothel.
When the leaders of society disappear what is to happen? The customers in the brothel can easily fill in and no one will notice or does notice. Society is ultimately run simply by people with fantasies of power and sex anyway. The brothel becomes a metaphor for society in general.
The film takes its name from a wonderful performance in which Peter Falk gives an empty but passionate and arousing speech from the balcony, acting out his childish fantasies of power.
I am not sure if the ending of the film works well or not. This is all totally crazy on the surface and is all really about subtext communicated through metaphor, and so it may hang together more tightly on a second viewing. I give the film high marks however for even daring to appear, and for some truly memorable performances in my opinion.
Obviously it is not a film for everyone. And if it had been my film I would have done a few things differently. Also it might seem a bit dated, and maybe too "European" for some. But I think that a viewer that goes in with open eyes and some artistic tolerance could agree with me that it deserves very high praise.
A surrealist gem
A Customer Review by Za09
Surrealist in intent, atmosphere and cinematography. Could be considered Dystopian as Orson Welle's 'The Trial', Soderbergh's 'Kafka'.
If you like David Lynch you will most assuredly enjoy this strange thought-provoking offering.
I am referring to the Image Entertainment August 1, 2000 release.
Though amazon.com states 1.33:1 (Academy Aspect ratio) - it appears, on my Sony 52" LCD, to be properly 16:9 Enhanced/Anamorphic (although it does start a little shifted to the right, it quickly corrects itself). IMDB does not list the original aspect ratio but most films after 1960 were filmed in 1.85:1 (in America) or wider and I'm assuming this one was too.
Keep an open mind and enjoy - hope this helps.
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