Famously irreverent, Ferreri was so off-beat and scathing as an author implacably dissecting our societal mores in all his masterful films, that he was labelled 'dangerous'! The film is inspired by a true story of the nihilistically cruel exploitation of a young carnival performer, Julia Pastrana, whose body was completely covered in hairs. She is brought to life here by an extraordinary Annie Girardot - France's highest-paid actress of the time - in a natural measured and elegant performance from which emanates the ambiguous emotion of being alluring yet devastatingly poignant as 'the ape woman'. An unscrupulous hustler (a magnificent Ugo Tognazzi), discovers the young woman in a convent and marries her in order to get her on the freak-show circuit and cash in on the distinctive appearance of her body and face covered in hairs.
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