Sex & Violence (aka Ensalada Baudelaire)

A wealthy couple’s yacht trip turns into a nightmare when they invite two strangers aboard and the afternoon descends into a vicious game of seduction, humiliation, and control. Trapped at sea, they are forced to endure the sadistic whims of their guests as desire curdles into cruelty and violence. What begins as a languid outing soon becomes a sealed chamber of privilege, panic, and predation, with nowhere to escape the mounting terror. Directed by acclaimed photographer Leopoldo Pomés in his only directorial feature, Sex & Violence (Ensalada Baudelaire, 1978) is a sleek, unsettling shocker of sexual menace and class decay, unfolding with the perversity and unease that made so much of 1970s Spanish genre cinema unforgettable. Shot with a stark visual elegance that heightens its atmosphere of dread, the film was one of the first to come under Spain’s infamous S-Classification, reserved for the most violent, sexual, and political works. After decades of obscurity, this newly restored presentation marks the worldwide disc debut of Sex & Violence, making one of the most disturbing films of the Spanish Transition era available for rediscovery at last.