Vase de Noces
Encyclopedia
Vase de Noces is a Belgian arthouse film directed by Thierry Zéno
and stars Dominique Garny.
The film deals openly, and sometimes graphically, with bestiality, and is informally known as The Pig Fucking Movie. It also features real animal killings and coprophagia
, and has been labeled obscene by many sources, notably by the OFLC of Australia.
heads to pigeons, cutting off the head of a chicken, and collecting strange materials in jars.
A farmer, who may be the last person on Earth, lives on a rural farm in Belgium, and falls in love with his huge sow
. After bonding with her in several strange ways, such as rolling in manure with her, he finally decides to consummate the relationship as a result of which the sow gives birth to piglets, whom the farmer immediately tries to bond with. He tries to feed them all, but they all try to leave to be with their mother. Jealous, the farmer hangs all of them. When she discovers that her children are dead, the sow runs away in grief and falls into a mud pit, where she drowns.
The farmer begins to look for his love, and when he finds her, he becomes overcome in sadness. He drags the sow out of the hole and buries her back at the farm, and subsequently tries burying himself along with her. When this fails, he decides that his life is also over, and begins destroying every important aspect of his life, including the strange jars that he collects throughout the film. After his breakdown, he oddly begins making tea out of his feces and urine, which he consumes wholeheartedly, and immediately becomes sick. Finally, he hangs himself off a ladder, which is the last image of the film.
as screenings at film festivals did not depend on the approval of the Australian censors at this time. However, the Western Australian government pressured the censors to review the film before it was allowed to screen; the censors did so and refused to classify the film on grounds of obscenity. Festival chairman David Roe and director Thierry Zeno went to the censors to appeal the decision. The appeal was upheld, and Vase de Noces was allowed to be shown. Upset with the decision, the Western Australian Government would again do battle with the Film Festival the next year.
The government then threatened that if the Perth Film Festival continued their plans to import Nagisa Oshima
's Empire of the Senses
, then every film that was to be shown at the festival would have to go under review of the censors. Because of this impossible task, the Perth Film Festival decided not to air Oshima's film (though it later aired at the Melbourne and Sydney film festivals without incident).
That same year, Vase de Noces again went before the censors, and was refused classification again. It remains banned in Australia to this day, although it can be downloaded online.
. Its last film festival appearance was at the 61 st Film Festival Locarno in "Tribute to the Royal Belgian Cinémathèque / Experimental film Competitions of Knokke le Zoute".
Thierry Zéno
Thierry Zéno is a Belgian author-filmmaker. His films include the controversial Vase de Noces , and a documentary ¡Ya basta! Le cri des sans-visage on the Zapatista rebels of Chiapas, Mexico,...
and stars Dominique Garny.
The film deals openly, and sometimes graphically, with bestiality, and is informally known as The Pig Fucking Movie. It also features real animal killings and coprophagia
Coprophagia
Coprophagia or coprophagy is the consumption of feces, from the Greek κόπρος copros and φαγεῖν phagein . Many animal species practice coprophagia as a matter of course; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions...
, and has been labeled obscene by many sources, notably by the OFLC of Australia.
Plot
The film has a very incoherent plot structure, and is difficult to describe chronologically due to several strange and often random scenes interwoven into the overall story. Such displays consist of the farmer fastening dollDoll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
heads to pigeons, cutting off the head of a chicken, and collecting strange materials in jars.
A farmer, who may be the last person on Earth, lives on a rural farm in Belgium, and falls in love with his huge sow
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
. After bonding with her in several strange ways, such as rolling in manure with her, he finally decides to consummate the relationship as a result of which the sow gives birth to piglets, whom the farmer immediately tries to bond with. He tries to feed them all, but they all try to leave to be with their mother. Jealous, the farmer hangs all of them. When she discovers that her children are dead, the sow runs away in grief and falls into a mud pit, where she drowns.
The farmer begins to look for his love, and when he finds her, he becomes overcome in sadness. He drags the sow out of the hole and buries her back at the farm, and subsequently tries burying himself along with her. When this fails, he decides that his life is also over, and begins destroying every important aspect of his life, including the strange jars that he collects throughout the film. After his breakdown, he oddly begins making tea out of his feces and urine, which he consumes wholeheartedly, and immediately becomes sick. Finally, he hangs himself off a ladder, which is the last image of the film.
Controversy in Australia
In 1975, Wedding Trough was scheduled to be shown at the Perth International Film FestivalPerth International Arts Festival
The Perth International Arts Festival is Australia's longest running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia between February-March. The program features contemporary and classical music, dance, theatre, opera, visual arts, large-scale public works, Lotterywest Festival Films and the...
as screenings at film festivals did not depend on the approval of the Australian censors at this time. However, the Western Australian government pressured the censors to review the film before it was allowed to screen; the censors did so and refused to classify the film on grounds of obscenity. Festival chairman David Roe and director Thierry Zeno went to the censors to appeal the decision. The appeal was upheld, and Vase de Noces was allowed to be shown. Upset with the decision, the Western Australian Government would again do battle with the Film Festival the next year.
The government then threatened that if the Perth Film Festival continued their plans to import Nagisa Oshima
Nagisa Oshima
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
's Empire of the Senses
In the Realm of the Senses
is a 1976 Franco-Japanese romantic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe...
, then every film that was to be shown at the festival would have to go under review of the censors. Because of this impossible task, the Perth Film Festival decided not to air Oshima's film (though it later aired at the Melbourne and Sydney film festivals without incident).
That same year, Vase de Noces again went before the censors, and was refused classification again. It remains banned in Australia to this day, although it can be downloaded online.
Release
Better known by its English title, Wedding Trough, the film has never had an official theater release, but has been shown in film festivals around the world (notably at the Perth International Film Festival in 1975, which caused controversy with Australian censors). Because of no official theatrical, VHS, or (until recently) DVD release, Wedding Trough is one of the most obscure movies that is not a lost filmLost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
. Its last film festival appearance was at the 61 st Film Festival Locarno in "Tribute to the Royal Belgian Cinémathèque / Experimental film Competitions of Knokke le Zoute".
DVD release
As of 2009, the film is being released on DVD by the German company Camera Obscura and the Swedish company Njuta Films.External links
- Vase de Noces in Lausanne Underground Film and Music FestivalLausanne Underground Film and Music FestivalThe Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival, or LUFF, is a film festival and music festival devoted to underground film and music. It is held each year in Lausanne, Switzerland. It began with the formation of the LUFF Association For The Promotion of Independent Cinema. The festival thus rests...