From deep within the Well of Obscurity: Catherine Ringer in La Fessee (1976)

UncleScoopy

Full name of the film: La fessée ou Les mémoires de monsieur Léon maître-fesseur

Description: “Monsieur Léon has two jobs: bank clerk during the day and spanker at night. First called to solve the sexual problems of his boss, he will not stop there. Aided by his milkmaid who will serve as secretary, he soon acquired a renown as master-spanker.”

This was obviously inspired by one of the plays in Ibsen’s “Master” cycle. While the Master Builder is better known, the Master Spanker appears to have a lot more laughs. And what a funny guy Ibsen was! He himself was known as the Master Jester.

7 thoughts on “From deep within the Well of Obscurity: Catherine Ringer in La Fessee (1976)”

  1. As I have said before, I prefer the work of Ingmar’s brother Gummo, especially his masterpiece “Silent Strawberries”, aka “Death Bears A Rubber Chicken”. You can see a clip from it on YouTube.

    1. I also enjoy the work of his other brother, Edgar Bergman.

      On a related topic, Count Floyd was not a Bergman fan:

      1. One of my faves from SCTV. Flaherty is so hilarious in the last minute. Too pissed off to even “howl” properly. “You know what’s going to happen to Mrs. Prickley, too”. Don’t worry, Count. Next week you’ll get a good one like “Blood Sucking Monkeys from West Mifflin Township”.

        1. Monster Chiller Horror Theater really should have been spun off into its own series. Count Floyd was a great character.

  2. And at their parties, JP Sartre would be swatting off The Flies while showing you the way to the No Exit.
    In defense of the proprietor of the island, the Big B did crank out one of my favorite comedies of all time, the early one about Smiles.

  3. Yes, they’re still talking (and laughing!) about the “Kings of Comedy” tour featuring the zany Euro hi-jinks of Kierkegaard, Engels, Gladstone, and of course master pie-tosser Ibsen.

    1. Emile Zola also brought some wacky fun to that tour, and the roastmaster-general was, of course, Strindberg, the Seinfeld of his own time.

      I spent several years in Scandinavia, and I found them to be very relaxed, fun-loving people. They always made fun of Germans for lacking a sense of humor. But you would never know that from their literary and cinematic icons.

      Strindberg was bleak, but Ibsen and Bergman would never be mistaken for Mel Brooks either.

      As I wrote in my comments on Bergman Island:

      “A couple retreats to the island that inspired Ingmar Bergman to write screenplays.”

      Whoo-hoo! Party time!

      The actual spot, Bergman Island, is regarded as the world’s most depressing vacation destination. It’s the direct opposite of Fantasy Island. Instead of fantasy, there is only grim, somber reality. As you visit, you join everyone else there in staring off blankly into the middle distance while you consider the futility and essential pointlessness of a completely accidental existence that must be endured until a lonely death.

      And the buffet is great!

      Except maybe a little too heavy on the herring.

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