Possibly the ugliest story ever told--in a good way! If you don't understand why the 50's French film critics at Cahier du Cinema despised the "prestige" films and valorized those focusing on the nastiest aspects of human existence you will not see why this film of squalid, disgusting, and RAW human emotions and desires is worth seeing. A truly PSYCHOTIC version of Psycho, rather than a polite or "tasteful" one.