The Delirious Fictions of William Klein

Noted American expatriate photographer William Klein has directed a handful of documentaries (Muhammad Ali: The Greatest, Eldridge Cleaver and the recent In and Out of Fashion), but only three fiction films, all of which are included in this slim but important Eclipse box set. The films’ major assets are their eye-grabbing visuals and their prescient messages about fashion, politics and mass media. Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966) is a bitterly funny and cartoon-like spoof of the mod ’60s fashion world. Mr. Freedom (1969) is a freewheeling satire about an uber-American superhero (John Abbey) who brings bullheaded democracy to France. The Model Couple (1977) revolves around two married couples who became involved in an experiment in which their every move will be monitored by scientists—and broadcast minute-by-minute on TV.

Shelf Talk: Fans of New Wave filmmaking and swinging ’60s aficionados who have traded and purchased bootleg copies of Klein’s films from overseas copies will welcome this, the first legal release of the films in America. Klein’s work lacks the poetry of his New Wave contemporaries, but its imaginative pop-art quality means the box set should be shelved alongside Jean Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni and American “trip” movies to catch the attention of viewers looking for a blast of mind-warping ’60s cinema.