Marquis de Sade's Justine
Director: Jess Franco
Year Released: 1969
Rating: 1.0
Franco wants this adaptation of de Sade's The Misfortunes of Virtue to be both (a.) a 'real' film and (b.) soft-core porn with some outlandish performances from established movie figures (Mercedes McCambridge, Jack Palance, Akim Tamiroff) ... and yet (curiously) with only dabbles of nudity (there's more sex in Betty Blue, Jamon Jamon and Almodovar's films) - in going for both it succeeds in neither. The director sidesteps Romina Power's lack of acting talent skillfully, letting her be simply a walking 'object' for men (and some women) to exploit; the denouement is intriguing but it takes too long to get there (to paraphrase Bataille, purity is sought after so it may be profaned). The sets are the best thing in the movie, brightly lit and full of color; think of the Hammer Pictures or some of Hollywood's films in Technicolor.
