Saturday, September 2 & Wednesday, September 6 | Machatý’s dreamy, minimalist drama stars a young Hedy Lamarr (then billed as Hedy Kiesler), as Eva, who, unhappy in her sexless marriage with her husband Emil, begins a passionate affair with the virile construction worker Adam. Denounced by Pope Pius XI and banned in Germany, ECSTASY was the first film to be blocked by the United States Customs Service from entering the country after being deemed obscene and immoral, denounced as “dangerously indecent” because (brace yourself, dear audience) it contains the first on-screen instance of a woman experiencing an orgasm. Perhaps more scandalous: ECSTASY is a film decidedly focused on one woman’s search for emotional and physical pleasure.

Awards & Nominations

Winner - Best Director, Venice Film Festival

Contra/Banned Series: As a disturbing wave of bans—on books, on bodies, on identities—continues to sweep across the United States, the Film Center declares: get your censorship off our cinema. With Contra/Banned, we present 10 films that have experienced, in varying absurd degrees, their own bans and outcries, their own protests and regulations. The films of Contra/Banned are at times subversive, controversial, taboo, provocative, and shocking. Sounds like a good time at the movies to us. View full series.

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu