What? [Blu-ray]

Haven't watched yet but delivery was on time and in good condition

As others have noted, the Mediterranean scenery is gorgeous and Sydne Rome has a role that is somewhat akin to Alice in 'Alice in Wonderland'. She encounters some pretty strange people in this sea-side villa, including one of my favorite Italian actors, Marcello Mastroianni. If you don't try and look for a plot....or make sense of anything you're seeing, you'll probably enjoy it!

Beautifully filmed series of enounters with odd characters as a picaresque with deja vu. There is no story, no ending, no meaning (like Life, I guess). I have heard sport described as entertainment with no story. This movie is "pure" cinema, pretty pictures and noises. Filmmaking as sportYet, it haunted my dreams.

There was so much potential and leaves you feeling like they must have cut out some significant parts of the movie to make it make sense. The first two acts brought up some existential possibilities (perhaps she died and these characters represented emotions or traumas needing closure, and the deja vu aspect as well) and chances to identify what these characters meant to each other to give them more depth. The featurettes on the DVD give a little solace but the movie title is exactly the question one should ask themselves when rationalizing what you just watched.

I would argue that, film by film, Polanski has given us more great films than any other living director. But this is a completely pointless excuse to watch a naked girl running from one setting to another for two hours. I desperately tried to find a rationale for the film [a post-modernist ALICE IN WONDERLAND?] but, in the end, I cannot think of a single reason to watch it. Unless you want to see a naked girl running from one setting to another for two hours.[But I should add, I haven't seen PIRATES.]

This movie was so screwie with no basic plot that it was an ok movie. It kept my attention because I kept thinking this story has to go somewhere with this cute girl running around with little or no clothes on, running into different people in different rooms in different situations and finally just leaving the home in a truck, sort of like a modern Alice in Wonderland story!!?? Really weird and sort of entertaining with a cute naked girl is all I can say....!!!

A so WHAT? Well any film from Roman Polanski is more that just a so What!!!I wouldn't say it's top of his game but beautifully photographed around a Mediterranean villa with a bunch of eccentric characters there and let's not forget the most scenic sight, Sydne Rome!!! Worth the price of admission alone.It's also good to see a beautifully restored cinemascope print. I'm sure WHAT went on when not filming may have been most interesting.

Don't expect Chinatown or The Pianist here. This quirky little sex comedy starring Sydne Rome in one of her most delightful if a little weird roles is lots of fun. The girl escapes rapists and ends up hiding out in a mansion whose inhabitants don't seem to mind one bit there is a stranger around. Well, they are all a little strange. The dreamlike quality of the film suggests Alice in Wonderland and sometimes we wonder what the heck is going on. Enchanting and delightful romp.

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Je l'ai vu quand il est sorti. Assez pointu et marrant . Quand je l'ai vu il était en anglais. Le francais n'apporte rien

I must say I am surprised to be the first reviewer of this item. It's been out a couple of weeks now and I've been waiting til I choked down my bafflement before posting here; maybe all the other reviewers are similarily dumb-struck. What is there to say? Well whoever chose the title got it dead on for me because that word was on my lips, silently, all the way through watching.This dvd presents (supposedly for the first time- but what's this dvd on amazon- que?- if not a previous release, with a better cover at that) for the first time to an english speaking country on dvd Polanski's 'lost film' 'What?'. It feautures bizarre, stylish, very funny performances from Polanski himself, Marcello Mastroianni, Hugh Griffith and others, including Sydne Rome in a terrific performance as the central protagonist Nancy, a nakedly bemused and confusedly nude American traveller who has checked into a beautiful, if gaudy, italian villa that reminds me of the house in Joseph Losey's classic film 'Boom!'. It is filled with reproductions of famous art-works.The set-dresser is a genius.All in all this film is glossy and pretty, but nonetheless a frightening psychological-kinky-campy-thrillo-com, ( the psychological part is definitely in a vein that Polanski fans will have syringed before and with glee usually.) It is also a kinky romp that reminds me of Carry-on films, i.e. lusty old men and a willing dumb-beauty. Buy it, open a bottle, and shake your head and bite your nails and giggle through that funny gap in your teeth.

Il s'agit d'un film méconnu de Roman Polanski. Nancy, une touriste américaine en visite en Italie, est victime d'une tentative de viol lors d'un auto-stop. Elle se réfugie dans une villa de la Riviera italienne dont le propriétaire est un vieux millionnaire infirme, Joseph Noblart, dont l'un des défauts est d'être obsédé sexuel. Nancy fait aussi connaissance avec les invités de la villa: un ancien maquereau sado-masochiste, deux joueurs de ping-pong portés sur le sexe, un prêtre fou, un pianiste fouineur, etc. Roman Polanski s'offre même un rôle mineur. Le scénario donne l'occasion d'assister à des scènes érotico-surréalistes qui font sourire. Ce n'est pas du grand Polanski mais c'est original.

Pretty much Roman Polanski's rarest film these days - the print for the DVD was supposedly stolen from producer Carlo Ponti's vault - What? is a surprisingly enjoyable reimagining of Alice in Wonderland as a 70s sex comedy with Sydne Rome escaping a trio of inept rapists via cable car to a beachside villa where she encounters various human equivalents of Lewis Carroll's creations trapped in their own perverse fantasy worlds. Thus the White Rabbit becomes a doddering caretaker, Tweedledum and Tweedle Dee a pair of ping pong playing layabouts, the walrus a priest on a lilo, the March Hare Polanski's harpoon-wielding Mosquito ("That filthy little dwarf!"), the White Knight Hugh Griffith's dying patriarch and the Mad Hatter Marcello Mastroianni's ex-pimp, ping pong ball crusher and tiger impersonator. Did I mention the American tourists? It has it's own dreamlike logic and acceptance of the absurd that will certainly alienate some viewers as it did most contemporary critics: the only thing that people find hard to accept in this beautiful sun drenched locale are logic and reasons, preferring to stay hidden in their own recurring obsessions. Rome isn't much of an actress but she does have the ability to retain an air of innocence even when completely naked, which is the main demand of the part, and the film is surprisingly well cast, with Mastroianni relishing the chance to play laid-back sleazy and Polanski himself at his funniest when delivering offscreen death threats. It's all nonsense and knows its nonsense - even the end, explaining away its own arbitrary absurdity while revealing the film's title - but if you're simpatico, it's surprisingly seductive nonsense.The DVD boasts a fine 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with trailer and a trio of featurettes providing a decent extras package.