My first foray into the work of erotic horror master Jesus/Jess Franco is not a total disappointment but I feel it could have been better.
Here Franco adapts one of the better known works of the infamous Marquis De Sade, "Philosophy in the Boudoir/Bedroom", which follows the attempts at corruption of the titular Eugenie, by a group of Libertines.
The film is competently made and quite stylish, and the cast performs admirably enough, but flaws seem to lie with the script.
An overemphasis on creating an "erotic" work, combined with somewhat restrictive cinematic values of the late 1960's as sexuality and violence in cinema were only beginning to truly emerge, prevents it from capturing the nasty spirit of De Sade's work, despite technically having more violence than his novella. Rather it feels like a breezy sex film with some dark undertones.
*Spoilers* The other major flaw comes in the under use of the novels antihero Dolmance. Dolmance, never presented as a villain, but spectacularly repulsive, stands as one of the great characters of classical literature. Here he is played by Christopher Lee, who is a great choice for the role, but unfortunately (likely due to Christopher Lee only being used for two days of filming and not knowing the nature of the film until he later saw the scenes he was edited into) the character only appears briefly and serves primarily as a narrator. *Spoilers over*
The pacing of the film is also not perfect and at times it seems to drag on rather than moving towards the core aspects, though this does create a bit of effective tension once a
That said overall the film is well made, stylish, and probably a must see for fans of soft-core porn/sexploitation, it just lacks the nasty edge that the work of the Marquis should be presented with.
Here Franco adapts one of the better known works of the infamous Marquis De Sade, "Philosophy in the Boudoir/Bedroom", which follows the attempts at corruption of the titular Eugenie, by a group of Libertines.
The film is competently made and quite stylish, and the cast performs admirably enough, but flaws seem to lie with the script.
An overemphasis on creating an "erotic" work, combined with somewhat restrictive cinematic values of the late 1960's as sexuality and violence in cinema were only beginning to truly emerge, prevents it from capturing the nasty spirit of De Sade's work, despite technically having more violence than his novella. Rather it feels like a breezy sex film with some dark undertones.
*Spoilers* The other major flaw comes in the under use of the novels antihero Dolmance. Dolmance, never presented as a villain, but spectacularly repulsive, stands as one of the great characters of classical literature. Here he is played by Christopher Lee, who is a great choice for the role, but unfortunately (likely due to Christopher Lee only being used for two days of filming and not knowing the nature of the film until he later saw the scenes he was edited into) the character only appears briefly and serves primarily as a narrator. *Spoilers over*
The pacing of the film is also not perfect and at times it seems to drag on rather than moving towards the core aspects, though this does create a bit of effective tension once a
That said overall the film is well made, stylish, and probably a must see for fans of soft-core porn/sexploitation, it just lacks the nasty edge that the work of the Marquis should be presented with.