France released, NTSC/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: 'Mazeppa,' which calls itself a speculative meditation on the life and art of the French Romantic painter Theodore Gericault, is a film that will literally make you dizzy. Conceived and directed by Bartabas, a renowned horse trainer and impresario of the Theatre Equestre Zingaro, it is an equestrian fever dream that suggests Peter Shaffer's play 'Equus,' but with the mystical fervor multiplied severalfold.
The movie studies equestrian form and anatomy with a painter's and a horse breeder's eye. Horses are graphically photographed excreting, mating and giving birth, as well as cantering, galloping and executing tricks. In one of the movie's most sensual moments, the camera compares human and equine limbs as naked humans make love in a stable. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, ...Mazeppa