More than three decades after its controversial release, it remains the most butchered, debated and least-seen film of the Oscar-winning director's entire career. Written by Polanski and his old partner Gerard Brach, What? is a mordant absurdist comedy made in the spirit of Roger Vadim and Terry Southern and loosely based on the themes of Alice in Wonderland and Henry James. The film is a rambling, shaggy dog story about the sexual indignities that befall Nancy (Sydney Rome), a winsome young American hippy hitchhiking through Europe. After escaping a farcical rape attempt in the back of a truck, she soon finds herself stranded in the hothouse atmosphere of a remote Italian villa inhabited by a band of decadent, lecherous grotesques - the main three are played by Marcello Mastrioanni, Hugh Griffith and Polanski himself. Since it's 1972 release, the film has attracted a cult following and a modicum of critical notice.
Sydne In Wonderland - featurette with star Sydne Rome
Memories of a Young Pianist - featurette with composer Claudio Gizzi
A Surreal Pop Movie - featurette with cinematographer Marcello Gatti
