''Carmen, Baby'' is a 1967

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film produced and directed by

Radley Metzger Radley Metzger (January 21, 1929 – March 31, 2017) was an American filmmaker and film distributor, most noted for popular artistic pornographic films, including '' Thérèse and Isabelle'' (1968), '' Camille 2000'' (1969), '' The Lickerish ...

, based on the 1845 novella ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'' by

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...

Premise

A liberated woman tempts a local police officer into a romantic entanglement with tragic consequences.

Cast

Reception

''Carmen, Baby'', according to one reviewer, was the beginning of Metzger's successful style in his later films: that is, adapting "a literary classic in a gorgeous European locale with high polish and a goodly helping of sophisticated sex and seduction." Film critic Jesse Vogel noted that the film is an example of Metzger's signature style, "cool, classy, distant, with a distinctively European sensibility". According to Gary Morris of ''

Bright Lights Film Journal ''Bright Lights Film Journal'' is an online popular-academic film magazine, based in Oakland, California, United States. It is edited and published by Gary Morris. Originally a print publication established in 1974, it was discontinued in 1980 t ...

'', ''Carmen'' was "well played" by Uta Levka; lighting and camerawork by Hans Jura was "first-rate". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that the film had "a rather classy look" and that the performers were "attractive" and the setting "beautiful".

Legal issues

In the case of '' Rabe v. Washington'', 405 U.S. 313 (1972), the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

decided that the manager of a drive-in movie theater could not be charged with

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...

for showing the film which was not wholly determined to be obscene, but only parts were, holding that the citizens of Washington State had no notice under the Sixth Amendment that the place where a film was shown was an element of the offense.

Popular culture

Wally Lamb Wally Lamb (born October 17, 1950) is an American author known as the writer of the novels '' She's Come Undone'', '' I Know This Much Is True'', and ''The River Is Waiting'', all of which were selected for Oprah's Book Club or Oprah's Book Clu ...

mentioned the bottle dance scene from ''Carmen, Baby'' in his 2016 book ''I'll Take You There''.

Notes

According to Steve Gallagher of ''

Filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

'', Radley Metzger's films, including those made during the

Golden Age of Porn The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American pornography, in which sexually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the genera ...

(1969–1984), are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a

penchant In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision theo ...

for the unusual

camera angle The camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The diff ...

". Clare Simpson of

WhatCulture WhatCulture Ltd. is a British online entertainment news website and magazine which was launched in 2010. The site offers news in the field of professional wrestling, television, films, music, video games, and board games. History Originally star ...

noted that his films were "highly artistic—and often cerebral ... and often featured gorgeous

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

". Film and audio works by Metzger have been added to the permanent collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(MoMA) in New York City.

References

External links

*
''Carmen, Baby''
at

Mubi Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; the Auteurs before 2010) is a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available ...

{{Portal bar, Film, Society, United States 1967 films 1967 drama films 1960s American films 1960s English-language films 1960s erotic drama films 1960s German films American erotic drama films American erotic romance films English-language German films English-language Yugoslav films Films about police officers Films based on Carmen Films directed by Radley Metzger German erotic drama films West German films Works subject to a lawsuit Yugoslav drama films English-language erotic drama films