Summary
Goto is an island which, through a series of natural disasters, was cut off from the rest
of the world in the late 1800s. Its inhabitants toil in stone quarries and relax
in the state-run brothels. There in no art, no science, no prosperity, but everyone
is happy to swear allegiance to their sadistic ruler, Goto III. At a public execution,
Goto’s wife, Glossia saves the life of a condemned man, Grozo, whom Goto pardons
and adopts as his personal fly killer. From the day that Grozo takes up his new
office, the island of Goto will never be the same again…
Review
This is an early work from the controversial Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk, a surreal
fantasy which coldly satirises the state-controlling regimes of Eastern Europe.
As in many of Borowczyk’s other films, the film has very strong erotic and sensual
undertones, although there is surprisingly no explicit eroticism in the film itself.
Watching the film affords a bizarre and unsettling experience, because it is quite unlike
any other French-made film of its era. With its gainy black and white photography
and threadbare sets, it resembles a film from the early years of the silent movie, something
which the larger than life, slightly over-the-top, performances and the use of Handel’s
chamber music, constantly reinforces.
As a result, the film has an unsettling timeless quality which makes it both compelling
yet profoundly disturbing. Although the images appear bizarrely innocuous, Borowczyk
manages to chill his audience in subtle and unexpected ways.
© James Travers 2001
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