Kameliendame 2000

The main reason to watch Camille 2000, full disclosure here, is leading actress Danièle Gaubert, a successful model and one of the most beautiful women ever to appear in European cinema. She made about a dozen movies back in the sixties, and retired from acting in 1972 when she married skier Jean-Claude Killy. She falls somewhere between "Wow" and "Holy $#*%". There, I said it. Her astonishing looks make her a convincing figure as the beautiful muse-prostitute at the center of a decadent "scene", set in the future world of 2000, but she was also fairly experienced and accomplished as an actress by this time and had good chemistry with Nino Castelnuovo, who plays the naively romantic Armand. Although the year 2000 as viewed from the angle of the pop art late 60s is a bit laughable from this end, the central doomed romance at the heart of the story is still affecting to watch today, and the supporting performances, all of which blend a decadent insouciance with closet romanticism, flesh out the dramatic landscape nicely. Worth a watch.

I'm glad I saw it. There are life lessons about love, sex, art, pleasure, honesty, and denial here. Radley Metzger at his best is a very honest and true-to-life filmmaker. Even when he's being surreal and throwing illusions at you like in "The Lickerish Quartet" he's being brutally honest and teaching you something about yourself and about life. Neither prudish, nor libertine, just honest, Metzger artistically explored the areas of life that other filmmakers either avoided or treated with juvenile snickering attitudes. Of course he was a businessman too and his choice of subject matter was no doubt shaped in part by what was commercially viable, but he was also a brave and dedicated craftsman who helps us still to understand and grow wiser. The emotional impact of this film is not unlike "Therese and Isabell", though the eye candy in this film makes it an easier viewing experience. Not all of Metzger's films hold up today, but this is one that does.

The other comments I have read all seem accurate to me (except I don't think Maguerite is necessarily an aristocrat, but the poor protege of one). The innocent nudity, the gorgeous photography and glamorous Roman locations, the capturing of a moment of social freedom in the sixties, are all superb. Although the director has a reputation for making exploitation films, at least in the year 2000 it doesn't seem to me that this film qualifies as one, since the nudity, sex and drugs are relatively tame, and the film now reads as a serious dramatic effort, at least to me.

What I found fascinating about the film was the portrayal of the progress of the emotional relationship of Armand and Marguerite- it covers how they met, love won and lost several times, their emotional conflicts and life choices as a result of their feelings for each other. In this it seems to me highly realistic, perceptive and insightful. It captures the emotional life of the very wealthy, young and beautiful elite- joy, confusion, hedonism, love and also despair.

It follows the evolution of the relationship in such detail that, at times, I found the film dragging a bit, but this was a minor problem for me compared to the joy of seeing such a deep exploration of their relationship. Instead of the single roller-coaster ride of snipped-down Hollywood fare, we enter fully into another world by dwelling there through several different plot climaxes.

CAMILLE 2000

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)

Sound format: Mono

Whilst visiting Rome, an amorous nobleman (Nino Castelnuovo) falls in love with a beautiful young libertine (Daniele Gaubert), but their unlikely romance is opposed by Castelnuovo's wealthy father (Massimo Serato), and Fate deals a tragic blow...

A sexed-up love story for the swinging Sixties, adapted from a literary source (Alexandre Dumas' 'La Dame aux Camelias') by screenwriter Michael DeForrest, and directed with freewheeling flair by Radley Metzger who, along with the likes of Russ Meyer and Joe Sarno, is credited with redefining the parameters of 'Adult' cinema throughout the 1960's and 70's. Using the scope format for the last time in his career, Metzger's exploration of 'la dolce vita' is rich in visual excess (note the emphasis on reflective surfaces, for example), though the film's sexual candor seems alarmingly coy by modern standards. Production values are handsome throughout, and the performances are engaging and humane (Castelnuovo and Gaubert are particularly memorable), despite weak post-sync dubbing. Though set in an unspecified future, Enrico Sabbatini's wacked-out set designs locate the movie firmly within its period, and Piero Piccioni's 'wah-wah' music score has become something of a cult item amongst exploitation devotees. Ultimately, CAMILLE 2000 is an acquired taste, but fans of this director's elegant softcore erotica won't be disappointed. Next up for Metzger was THE LICKERISH QUARTET (1970), which many consider his best film.

Camille 2000, which could be called the first of the modern, adult films, was among those trendsetting, forward-looking pictures that marked the end of the 1960's. That said, it's not a fantastic film, but fairly well done. The pill popping, hard driving female of the film is asked, at the opening of the picture, whether she ever comes down. "Not if I can help it," she replies, tossing another handfull of drugs into her mouth. In a sense, that's the theme of the film; lurid and risque for the time, but somewhat tame compared to today's endless stream of mindless porn films.