El Topo’s spectacle blurred the line between performance and real transgression

Evidence

Assuming the artist, born to Russian-Jewish Communist parents in Iquique, Chile, to be Catholic, O’Brien explains that “as a good Catholic, as only a fallen-away Catholic can be, Jodorowsky makes his ritual perform the universe.” Moreover, he continued, El Topo was a way of life—not least for its maker. “When El Topo rapes a girl, Jodorowsky really rapes her,” O’Brien explained. “Jodorowsky is an actor in search of real actions who refuses to distinguish between any of the moments of himself.” — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1683