WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Continuing with a tradition that started last fall, Quentin Tarantino’s Los Angeles repertory theater, the New Beverly, will once again screen a XXX classic: the 1980 French queer landmark “Equation to an Unknown,” in 35 mm.
A newly minted print of “Equation to an Unknown,” originally released under French title “Équation à un inconnu,” will screen for adults only on Monday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m., as part of a double bill with a more recent film it explicitly influenced, Yann Gonzalez’s 2018 queer horror cult title “Knife + Heart.”
“Explicit material meets melancholy arthouse sensibilities in a towering XXX masterpiece,” proclaimed a New Bev rep. “A handsome young stud rides his motorcycle through a myriad of sexual situations, from a soccer game’s locker room to a dreamy and unsettling orgy. This rediscovered gem is a labyrinth of all-male fantasies whose outstanding beauties always end up fading away while leaving their sensual protagonist dealing with his own loneliness.”
The film, the rep continued, “was directed by the mysterious Dietrich de Velsa, aka Francis Savel/Frantz Salieri, a former painter who was also the owner and artistic director of one of the first transvestite cabarets of Paris, the legendary La Grande Eugène. Years later, he collaborated with Joseph Losey on ‘Mr. Klein’ and ‘Don Giovanni.’”
“Equation to an Unknown” is de Velsa’s only film and, in the opinion of the programmers, “it stands as the best French gay porn ever made.”
Last June, as XBIZ reported, Pink and White Productions added the title to its streaming service PinkLabel.tv. A restored-print Blu-ray release is also now available from Altered Innocence/Anus Films.
In October 2021, Tarantino’s flagship arthouse theater reintroduced XXX programming via a midnight screening of the classic 1979 adult horror comedy “Dracula Sucks.” These XXX screenings, near the heart of mainstream Hollywood, pay homage to the New Beverly’s past as an “art erotica” theater between the legalization of adult screenings in the late 1960s and the late-’70s decision by the owners of the Los Angeles Times to ban adult film advertisements.
