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Welsh writer Tyvian Jones (Stanley Baker) seems to have it all, Sixties style -- an international best seller, an apartment in Rome, a gorgeous fiancée in Virna Lisi - but he's bitter anyway.He meets his existential match in ennui in the mod seductress Eve, played by Jeanne Moreau, who was never more cynical or iconic.Decked out in pointy pumps and heavy eyeliner, listening to Billie Holiday on scratchy LPs as she counts the lire and smokes endless packs of cigarettes in strangers' bedrooms, she is the epitome of frayed glamour.An emotional tyrant, Eve's casual maneuvering forces Baker to confront his past - and his weaknesses - as a man and an artist.
With the Hakim brothers (the notorious producers of The Long Night, Purple Noon & Belle De Jour) handed Losey a fat contract and a pulp potboiler (by James Hadley Chase), Losey was sure it was his break.After years of tightly budgeted British programmers, he hoped Eva would be his ticket to the glossy world of the international cinema.But while Losey's final cut was hailed by critics as equal to his materpiece The Servant, it was barely released and remains largely unseen after more than 30 years.Losey disowned the producers' version, 15 minutes shorter than his own.
Recently released in its entirelty for the first time in the U.S. by Kino International, Losey's original verison of Eva (entitled Eve), which he described as "almost an orgasm," is also included on this DVD.The only surviving print of the longer version is a Swedish/Finnish release print preserved by the British Film Institute.It is through the efforts if the BFI that Kino is able to present this version on DVD, with Swedish and Finnish subtitles and English dialogue.
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