While it is admirable that director Harry Kumel wanted to make a film out of fellow Belgian writer Jean Ray’s book MALPERTUIS (HOUSE OF EVIL in English), I’m not sure that it’s possible to do justice to Ray’s magnum opus. That’s certainly the case here as this 1971 movie ended up pretty much a shambles. The 100 minute English version shown at Cannes can be forgiven as the distributor cut 20 minutes out of it and imposed a wrap-it-up ending. However the restored 121 minute “Director’s Cut”, which is in Flemish, has serious problems of its own. Both versions are available on both the DVD and the Blu-ray.
First a little background. Jean Ray (born Raymondus de Kremer in 1887, he died in 1964) is the type of fantasy writer that fires the reader’s imagination while allowing them to visualize the strange characters and bizarre happenings that occur throughout his stories. Once you create a standard visualization (such as a movie) then the images may not be those that the reader conjured up. This is especially true of those writers of weird fiction and sci-fi where visual interpretations by readers can be limitless. H.P. Lovecraft, Ray’s almost contemporary, is a perfect example of this.
Second, the book MALPERTUIS contains several different narratives and viewpoints which have been streamlined into a single storyline. That should have simplified matters but it doesn’t because elements have been borrowed from those other storylines without the characters which makes it far more confusing than the author intended it to be. Ray purposefully liked to leave things open ended in his stories but not the way they do in this film version. (Reviewer’s note: For me, Ray’s short stories are much better than his longer works).
MALPERTUIS the movie was a difficult shoot. Orson Welles, who plays the central role of Cassavius, kept telling everyone how it should be done. This irritated the international cast (but not the director who worshipped Welles) and angered the cinematographer. Creating the overly ornate, occasionally gaudy sets and the various period costumes proved to be quite challenging white cinematically lighting these scenes surrealistically (in the best Belgian tradition) took a lot of hard work according to DOP Gerry Fisher who got his revenge on Welles by “accidentally’ stepping on his gout plagued foot more than once.
MALPERTUIS is not a total bust. Welles is still a commanding presence and British actress Susan Hampshire appears in 5 different roles. The endless darkened corridors are creepily effective while the Sailor’s Bar (not in the book) is wildly colorful. However the story of a sailor returning to his ancestral home in Ghent which is populated by a number of strange characters who aren’t what they appear to be is impossible to follow and will leave most viewers extremely frustrated. The film is fine if you’re a fan of European arthouse cinema but others should just read the book and use their own imaginations.
