Unfortunately, I saw this in a horribly translated french, but after watching a few clips on YouTube I managed to get a feel for what the movie should have been like originally. The strengths of this movie lie in its style and its philosophical and moral dilemmas. Stuff like this can only really come from the 70s and 60s, what with seemingly crazy and random objects actually having a rather profound significance (like the characters all drinking milk to hypnotic music, for example). As for the morality, I saw this in Philosophy class for a good reason: you've got enough stuff here to fuel a debate for hours, days, even years and decades.What I didn't like was that the gratuitous nudity and violence haven't aged well over the years. What was once used to shock audiences into understanding how violent Alex really is now just seems inelegant, as if the director was some crazed pedophile putting wobbling breasts onscreen for as long as he can. It just seemed to me like the effect could be done much more effectively and in a more nuanced way through other means.
In a sentence:
Morally deep and stylishly unique, this is a classic that must be watched. However, the crudeness of the violent and sexual subject matter hasn't aged well and now just seems sloppy.
