W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism

W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism
DVD cover of the movie
Directed by	Dušan Makavejev
Produced by	Dušan Makavejev
Written by	Dušan Makavejev
Music by	Bojana Marijan
Cinematography	Aleksandar Petković Pega Popović
Editing by	Ivanka Vukasović
Release date(s)	1971
Running time	85 min.
Country	Yugoslavia West Germany
Language	Serbo-Croatian English

W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (Serbo-Croatian: W.R. - Misterije organizma, W.R. - Мистерије организма) is a 1971 film by Yugoslav director Dušan Makavejev that explores the relationship between communist politics and sexuality, as well as exploring the life and work of Wilhelm Reich.

Narrative and documentary elements

The film intercuts documentary footage with, predominantly, a narrative about a Yugoslav woman who seduces a Soviet ice skater. Despite different settings, characters and time periods, the different elements produce a single story of human sexuality and revolution through a montage effect.

The song that Vladimir sings in Russian after Milena's murder at the end of the movie is called "François Villon's Prayer" by Bulat Okudzhava.

Episodes

Tuli Kupferberg Poet and performance artist Tuli Kupferberg of band The Fugs, dressed as a soldier, parodies war and the sexual nature of man's fascination with guns by stalking affluent New Yorkers on the street and masturbating his toy rifle. As part of the climax of the film, the gun masturbation is intercut with other orgasmic sequences.

Artists Artist Betty Dodson discusses her experiences in drawing acts of masturbation, as well as her discussions within consciousness raising groups about female sexual response. The Dodson sequences are relatively straight forward documentary interviews; Dodson's large scale drawing of a man masturbating dominates the background of the shots.

Nancy Godfrey is an artist who makes a cast of Jim Buckley's erect penis on film. This scene was a point of contention for the censors: on UK prints Buckley's penis is covered with psychedelic colors added in editing.

Jackie Curtis Jackie Curtis, one of Andy Warhol's entourage and occasional film star, is shown on the streets of New York.

Screw Screw is an "underground" magazine that often focused on sexual issues. The film only shows one scene of Screw magazine, where editors work in the nude.

Alexander Lowen The film also features a rare on-screen interview with neo-Reichian therapist Alexander Lowen, the founder of bioenergetic analysis, during a therapy session.

Cast

Milena Dravić as Milena Ivica Vidović as Vladimir Ilyich Jagoda Kaloper as Jagoda Tuli Kupferberg as US Soldier Zoran Radmilović as Radmilović Jackie Curtis as Herself Miodrag Andrić as Soldier Živka Matić as Landlady

Wilhelm Reich as Himself (archive footage) Mikheil Gelovani as Joseph Stalin (archive footage) Jim Buckley as Himself Betty Dodson as Herself Nancy Godfrey as Herself Dragoljub Ivkov Nikola Milić Milan Jelić

See also

• List of mainstream films with unsimulated sex

External links

• W.R. - Misterije organizma at the Internet Movie Database
• W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism at AllRovi
• The Criterion Collection
• James DeMeo "Critical Review: Dusan Makavejev's WR Mysteries of the Organism"
• "WR: Mysteries of the Organism: Anarchist Realism and Critical Quandaries," Richard Porton, LOLA