Théâtre de Monsieur et Madame Kabal

Borowczyk's first feature (and his longest animation) is a domestic allegory of change and decay that emphasises the transformative essence of the Surrealist position. Extending the concerns of his previous shorts, the titular couple - crude but evocative in their drawn outlines - choose a range of heads, wander the dunes and run a foundry to stockpile armaments. Images of freedom repeat in wing motifs, which pitch in against totalitarian excess. The drawing itself drives the work as much as anything in the narrative: objects are alive and constantly mutate; live action inserts underscore the dysfunction. Relentlessly inventive, Borowczyk's is a singular vision, and his imagination is genuinely fecund, responsive to the century at both its creative and nihilistic edges. Sudden cuts (or rather clashing encounters), attention to textures and the latent violence of the whole enterprise all command attention.