Every french source I've read state that the movie was released in 1971. Such as this one:
http://clicnet.swarthmore.edu/aobajtek/chagrin_pitie.html
or the french wikipedia.
But in english sources, I've read 1969. Here, on IMDb, it state that the film was indeed released in France in 1971, but two years earlier, 1969, in West Germany.
Anybody have an answer? Was the film banned in France, but somehow managed to be shown in West Germany?
The film was shot in 1969 and intended for French television, but nobody cared for broadcasting it. It was actually banned from French networks until the early '80s (when the French Left won the presidential elections). A theatrical release in France didn't take place before April 5th, 1971. The film was highly controversial.
It was released in Germany (that is, West Germany) in 1969 because it was a French/German/Swiss co-production.
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