The Margin

"The line between love and lechery."

1976 1h 28m FR

😐

6.0

MID

⭐

5.2

IMDB

★6.0TMDB · 49★5.2IMDB · 1,028

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A businessman leaves his country home, and wife and young son for a business trip to Paris. While there he develops a sexual and spiritual bond with a call girl.

“The line between love and lechery.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Sylvia Kristel
Diana
Joe Dallesandro
Sigimond Pons
André Falcon
Antonin Pons
Mireille Audibert
Sergine Pons
Denis Manuel
Le moustachu
Louise Chevalier
Feline
Emmanuel Franval
Dominique Marcas

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Writers: André Pieyre de Mandiargues
Languages: French
Countries: France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

50 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Walerian Borowczyk, shot by Bernard Daillencourt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Louisette Hautecœur shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sylvia Kristel and Joe Dallesandro and André Falcon carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The line between love and lechery.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0074868 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Walerian Borowczyk directs. Bernard Daillencourt behind the camera. Louisette Hautecœur cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
250 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Walerian Borowczyk, shot by Bernard Daillencourt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Louisette Hautecœur shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Sylvia Kristel and Joe Dallesandro and André Falcon carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The line between love and lechery.".
8IMDB entry: tt0074868 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 49 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Bernard Daillencourt
Editing: Louisette Hautecœur
Production design: Jacques d'Ovidio
Costume design: Marie-Françoise Perochon
Makeup / hair: Jacky Bouban
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Status: Released
Original language: FR
Certification (US): 18
IMDB: The Margin (1976)
IMDB rating: 5.2/10 · 1,028 votes

Also by

Walerian Borowczyk

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-12-07
★ 6/10
The successful “Sigismond” (Joe Dallessandro) has a sexually active relationship with his wife “Sergine” (Mireille Audibert) and dotes on his young son, but when he takes a business trip to Paris he receives a letter and is soon indulging lavishly on call-girl “Diana” (Sylvia Kristel) with whom he becomes more and more obsessed. Her procurer isn’t best pleased at this emerging arrangement and takes some fairly violent steps to dissuade his future ardours, but will that deter him? Essentially, this is a collection of soft porn scenarios where the camera lingers quite pruriently as the women undress and they have sex. Maybe it was novel for French cinema in 1976 to see nudity sexualised like his, but after about ten minutes of this story-less frolicking I was really quite bored. To be fair to “Sigismond”, there are clues to the rationale for his behaviour dotted about the latter parts of the film, and there’s quite a twist at the conclusion, but there’s no real effort to characterise either him nor “Diana” either in spirit or by using dialogue, and as it progressed it reminded me of those saucy postcards you’d buy at the seaside at the turn of the last century flipped together, or watched through a kaleidoscope. Frankly, this is really quite repetitious and dull. It’s not seedy or seamy, it’s not racy or sexy. Just dull.

Production companies