Absurd, erotic, and surreal, this is Borowczyk's first live-action film after he made his name as an animator. The island of Goto is ruled by the despotic King Goto III (Pierre Brasseur), who ensures his position by relegating his people to thankless jobs and issuing cruel and unusual punishments. When a criminal scheduled to fight in a death-match tells the king that his queen (LA JETEE's Ligia Branice, Borowczyk's wife) is having an affair, Goto's response ends his reign, as well as several lives.