De Sade 70

Jess Franco - smut king with talent. Maybe not at his best in this film, but worth buying for de Sade's writings flung into (what was then) present day, as an innocent girl gets seduced by a pervy couple and goes to stay with them upon her father's agreement. She gets sucked into a perversion story before becoming the perversion herself, when violent things naturally happen.

The sex is very restrained for a Franco film, and Chris Lee looks vaguely ashamed in a limited role. But Lee's comments on the DVD about finding himself in a film showing in porn cinemas in Soho, entirely to his surprise, are worthy of purchase alone. He also praises Franco, as he should - the guy has vision, but don't ask me what that vision is!

To see Jess Franco at his erotic best, buy Female Vampire. For Franco completists, and fans of: quirky genre films, the forgotten roles of Christopher Lee, or mildly spicy filmic delights - get to see Eugenie!

"Eugenie" is a scandalous story from the Marquis de Sade about a naive young girl who is sold by her father into the servitude of a married pair of depraved libertines who proceed to seduce and debauch her. Not surprisingly, it has not received a lot cinematic treatment (and could probably not even be made these days). Even the incredibly prolific and repetitive Jesus Franco only made two versions of the story, this and one in the early 80's called "Erotismo" ("Eugenie de Sade", made a year later with Soledad Miranda, is also based on a De Sade story, but is about a very different character also named Eugenie).

This is no doubt the better version. It was made at a time when Franco had access to plenty of a money through producer Harry Allen Towers and quality international stars, not only Maria Rohm and Jack Taylor as the libertine couple, but even Christopher Lee (who apparently had no idea what he was getting into) as the leader of the strange sex cult the pair belong to. As the title character Eugenie, Swedish actress Marie "Inga" Lillejahl is a typical Franco actress of the period--not as talented as some Franco collaborators like Soledad Miranda or Rosalba Neri, but very beautiful and classy unlike many of his later actresses (including his wife Lina Romay, who beautiful as she was, had a bad tendency of indulging the director in his most tasteless cinematic fantasies). Lillejahl, I might also add, was older than the character she played, and it turns out it's much better to cast a twenty year old as a fourteen year in a fairly explicit role than an actual fourteen year old as he did in "Erotismo" (Katja Beinert, who ironically could have easily passed for twenty), not only for moral reasons but also artistic ones--just as a drunk is best played by someone who is not actually drunk, a naive innocent is most effectively played by someone who is NOT actually a naive innocent.

The beautiful, dream-like style of the movie also does a lot to mitigate the inherent sleaziness of the subject matter. The scenes of Lillejahl stumbling naked along barren sand dunes with lots of phallic jutting rocks as the morning sun comes up are very memorable (even if they don't make a lot of sense). The repetitive opening and closing sequences Franco uses is a hoary device that goes all the way back to the British classic "Dead of Night", but it is quite effective and really adds to the dream-like atmosphere. One of the "good" Franco movies.

Eugenie is a film that shocked 1969 audiences, with interracial kissing, woman-to-woman fondling, and brother-sister sex games. It is beautifully filmed, sublimely acted (within its cult pedigree), and has reams of coolness, which makes it a good bet for modern audiences. If you get bored watching Connery drive his Aston Martin to a romantic rendezvous for some witty repartee, Eugenie will likely bore you. If you prefer graphic to simulated, you might find it lame. But if you can buy into the characters and appreciate the care of the filmmaking, Eugenie is a rewarding, disturbing piece of celluloid. In the interview, Franco states "Of all my films, it is the one I hate the least." If you know Franco and his staggering body of work, that's saying something.

Eugenie...the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion (1970)

*** (out of 4)

Jess Franco takes Marquis de Sade's Philosophy in the Boudoir and turns it into one of his best films. A young woman named Eugenie (Marie Liljedahl) is sent off to an island with Madame Saint Ange (Maria Rohm) and her perverted brother (Jack Taylor) and before long the two are sexually assaulting the girl as they act out various de Sade stories. EUGENIE is certainly one of the most bizarre films from this era and I don't think anyone other than Franco could have pulled the material off. I'm sure someone could have filmed a pretty version of this story but I think Franco perfectly nailed the situations because we're basically given one big nightmare for this girl with a psychedelic vision and a terrific score by Bruno Nicolai. What works so well with this film is the vision on its director because you really do feel as if you're watching some sort of strange and perverted trip. I really loved the red tinting that Franco used during certainly scenes and especially all through the finale. This really does add a surreal feel to everything you're watching. Add in the terrific score, which at times is rather playful (example: when Rohm helps Liljedahl with a bath) and at other times creepy and perverse. Another major plus is that Franco is given one of his best casts to work with. I thought Liljedahl was very good in her role. Yes, there are times where she can't fully capture the deprived situation of the character but other than this I thought the actress looked the part and was quite believable during the seduction scenes. Taylor isn't a master actor or anything but he manages to turn in a fine performance as does Paul Muller in his brief role and Herbert Fux in his cameo. It's also fun seeing someone like Christopher Lee in a film like this even though he wasn't aware of what type of film they were making around him. Rohm is the real stand out here as she's really one of the main vocal points in the film. She certainly has the look of the character but also manages to make you believe in everything she's doing. EUGENIE has some flaws throughout including some pacing issues and there are times where the soft or out of focus cinematography is just rather annoying. Still, this isn't a very easy story to tell but Franco brings it to life like only he can.

It is not difficult to understand why this languorous Franco ero-drama caused quite the controversy when released in 1970. It is sexually frank and throws in incest, lesbianism and interracial kissing with gleeful abandon.

Today, it seems very tame from a graphic point of view, but its sexual politics are way ahead of the ultra-conservative (sexual) climate the film industry currently operates in.

This is not an el cheapo Franco flutter shot on a castle set with bad lighting and hit-and-miss focus. It is beautifully shot by Manuel Merino and, as always, Bruno Nicolai delivers a rich, evocative score.

Eugenie's "journey" into perversion encompasses light lesbianism, a little rough intercourse and some soft whipping of her tender breasts. She emerges more lost and confused than liberated and ends up wandering nude for several minutes on an island; this sequence, the film's strongest, is quite surreal.

Marie Liljedahl, who plays Eugenie, is not Soledad Miranda, and is quite bland in her leading lady role.

Jack Taylor is suitably oily as Maria Rohm's lust-filled brother and Rohm makes the most of her role as Eugene's corrupter.

I like EUGENIE DE SADE quite a bit more than this and find it far more erotic, but this is worth a look, if not high praise.