Private Vices, Public Virtues
Private Vices, Public Virtues
R | 10 October 1976 (USA)
Private Vices, Public Virtues Trailers

The setting is a Central European kingdom, near the turn of the century. Bored by his very proper wife, the youthful heir to the throne spends his time in amorous dalliances at a sprawling country estate. His wife departs at the arrival of his friends, and they organize a celebration which becomes a wild orgy and culminates in death and tragedy.

Reviews
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
Freaktana A Major Disappointment
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
TdSmth5 A naked guy jumps around his palatial estate. He kisses girls and hugs guys. All the while musicians play something in the background. This takes forever so I started fast-forwarding. He and his crew prepare for some lavish party. Soon after the party begins the clothes start coming off as the guests dance and giggle in a scene that takes forever. As the night progresses inhibitions start falling as well. Some guys in uniform appear and witness the debauchery. The naked guy also wears occasionally a uniform. Next day, more uniformed guys show up to threaten the guy but things don't turn out as they planned.Private Vices, Public Pleasures is absolute junk unless you enjoy ridiculous time-piece musicals mixed with some aberrant sexual stuff. Story-wise there's not much going on. There some tasteless twist about the identity of one of the girls there.As other reviews point out, the characters here are very freely based on historically characters but knowing that doesn't make this movie any better. Even if you're looking for titillation, this movie offers very little except for male genitalia.
geoffreyperrin-244-410909 Lots of information here in other reviews about the films historical context and ambitions, and also the directors other work and background. For me this film is from a time when film makers were not tied to mast of narrative, long lingering shots abound, with beautiful graceful composition , and the camera holding on little moments of reverie. The nudity is irreverent and celebratory , again capturing candid moments, and as one reviewer stated an almost dream like atmosphere is achieved. Also the use of diagetic and non-diagetic sound is playfully used and intertwined, with musicians playing the soundtrack itself on screen. A wonderful example of European cinema from a lost time.
kosmasp Which makes it sound dull, but more on that later. Read the review by ArpadGabor to get some background information on the historical context of the movie. The motives are clear in the movie, but it shines a new light on some things I guess. One thing is for sure though: If people mistake this as pornography (as the reviewer also wrote), they are dead wrong.This is like a study of society. One sided (rich people) it may be, but it's still vaguely intriguing to see how boredom gets them and pushes them to do crazy things. Like the scene almost at the beginning in the hay, which coincidently is the only scene that actually could lead to the pornographic conclusion. We do have a lot of nudity though and the love making is diverse.Some people will be offended by that (especially because we're not only seeing "regular" couples/intercourse). This is by no means titillating or anything, but appalling? Maybe, depends on your threshold for such things.You also don't really know the background on most of the people on screen or their relationship towards each other. While this adds to the mystery it's also frustrating and not really satisfying (no pun intended). A little more background and a little more fleshed out characters would've gone a long way. As it is, it's a decent film, with a neat message
LongChuen I can't forget such an graceful and sad movie. It's as beautiful as moving folk dancing songs. Real masterpiece! Slow path, poetic, erotic and hard to understand completely unless we are well-known about history of that event and already get used to art flims. You won't really satisfied and might feel bored if you are finding a sexual porn film. It should not be shown on Playboy channel. What a shame! I feel sorry for that great Central European director.