Pearls of the Deep

Portmanteau or omnibus films were really popular for the auteurs of the 1960s, but none of them have really lasted in the cinematic memory, have they? There's only one that I've seen that I've loved, Spirits of the Dead, the Edgar Allen Poe film by Vadim, Malle and Fellini. Sure, there are some really good segments that have been made. Pasolini's La Ricotta from Rogopag is especially excellent. But the way these films can vary in quality is what makes them generally so forgettable. Pearls of the Deep, a portmanteau from the Czech New Wave, unfortunately only varies from decent to terrible. Two segments are watchable, those by Menzel and Jires. Jires' is the best of the bunch, about a young man who falls for a gypsy girl, but even it is only tolerable. Chytilová's segment was boring at first, but then she creates this visually lovely scene where a bride in her flowing veil walks around in slow motion. It's the best sequence in the entire film, even if the rest of this short is forgettable. The shorts by Nemec and Schorm are rather pointless. All in all, worth skipping, especially as the Facets DVD is, as is usual for them, godawful.