A perverted and murderous teenager agrees to undergo treatment that will eliminate his aggressive impulses… With this plunge into violence where young thugs and state authorities struggle, Stanley Kubrick paints a picture of the future world as dark and terrifying as a painting by Hieronymus Bosch.
Gathered at the Korova Milk-Bar, Alex and his gang drink themselves full of drugs before setting off on an ultra-violent spree. After beating a drunken tramp to death, they break into a house, rape the woman and seriously injure the husband. The next day, Alex is captured by the police after unintentionally killing another victim. Incarcerated, the teenager seeks the Ludovico treatment, an experimental therapy designed to eliminate aggressive impulses. Cured, disgusted by all violence and sexuality, Alex is released…
The art of feinting
From The last raidStanley Kubrick excels in describing disaster. He deploys extraordinary scenes here: the very seventies bar where milk is drawn from women’s breasts, the fights like ballets punctuated by Beethoven… Clockwork Orange is a terrible and beautiful film, with haunting and sublime music, with blue and low lights. Carnivalesque and wild in the first part, violence is an act of pleasure. Framed by prison and the Ludovico treatment in the second part, it is the prerogative of power. Recycled, it is finally put at the service of a corrupt system. Delinquent youth, parents, government bodies, art itself, everything seems to enter the vicious circle traced by Kubrick. However, the filmmaker only seriously attacks the violence deployed by the State. Symbol of an oppressive society that aims to eradicate the most fertile impulses of human beings, the Ludovico treatment is the summit of his civilizing conspiracy. Malcolm McDowell’s innocent smile and irony contribute greatly to the prodigy ofClockwork Orangewhich never ceases to terrify and excite us.
