EVE

Very strange. "Eve" was probably the closest Losey ever came to making an outright 'art' movie and it was probably not at all what the Hakim brothers, who produced, wanted from him. It's based on a James Hadley Chase novel but it's been stripped down to the basics. Jeanne Moreau is Eve but she's probably closer to the serpent. Her Adam is Stanley Baker's novelist whom she destroys and its Eden is a chilly, grey Venice, magnificently photographed in monochrome by Gianni Di Venanzo. It's a stunningly high-toned movie, rich and decadent like it's very unpleasant characters and it's virtually plotless. Moreau and Baker are both superb, considering they have been given very little to work with; it's just one loveless encounter after another. In some respects it's very like "The Servant". There we had Cleo Laine on the soundtrack; here we have Billie Holliday.