Bilitis

When it was released this film caused a sensation. I watched it and was thrilled. Beautiful, usually young, naked women filmed in the classy style we knew so well from director Hamiltons photography. His photographs never become porn and the same is true for this movie. Today I saw it again and was bitterly disappointed. The soft core in extremely slow paced scenes, all filmed with some Vaseline on the lenses, actually is all there is. There is no real story, the characters remain beautiful and beautifully filmed bodies, but they are not real creatures with a soul. Actually nothing happens. It is like Hamilton is photographing using moving pictures rather than stills. And this gets so boring after a while. I even didn't watch the whole thing the second time, for I fell vast asleep. That is all that remains of this masterpiece: it is a very good sleeping pill. And you will never become addicted to it!

Back then 7 out of 10, now 3 out of 10

Bilitis (Patti d'Arbanville) attends an all-girl school that is about to break for summer... Once on vacation, Bilitis comes to hold with her developing sexuality and strikes up a romantic liaison with a local boy… A secondary romance concerns Bilitis' female guardian and her new husband…

The treatment of sensuality is soft and beautiful, which is in keeping with Hamilton's style of photography… At the beginning of the film, we see the sweet, sensual bodies of the schoolgirls exuberantly bathing in a mountain lake…

When Bilitis is finally seduced, it is exaggerated romance, heavily diffused, implying rather than showing their coupling… The lovemaking between the married couple is equally stylized, but more steamy

Sometimes my quest to see every notorious European sex film from the 70's leads me very far afield--and sometimes it just leads to a lot of boredom. I saw this film back-to-back with Catherine Breillat's directorial debut "Un Vrai Jeune Fille" (Breillat was co-writer of this film as well). Both are very pretentious, but while "Jeune Fille" is genuinely disturbing yet also realistic in a strange way, this film is simply dull and rarely rises above the most generic level of male fantasy. The director David Hamilton, depending on who you ask, is either a brilliant photographer or an incorrigible pervert. His main subject of interest was capturing adolescent and post-adolescent females at their most nubile. He's definitely in hog heaven at the beginning of this film which is set at a French girls' school the protagonist is attending. This apparently is a VERY liberal school where the students freely skinny-dip, openly engage in lesbian frolics, and even put on Greek plays for their families wearing nearly diaphanous togas that barely cover their lissome bodies. Naturally, ALL these girls are model beautiful. It's probably best not to wonder how old some of them were at the time, but the lead, American actress Patty D'Arbanville, was actually in her mid-20's, although she looks younger.

As questionable as the first half hour may be though, it certainly achieves it effect (it's surpassed only by the "Barthory" section of Walerian Borowzyx's "Immoral Tales" in its sheer gratuitous display of nubile skin). It's really the second hour that's the problem. D'Arbanville's character "Bilitis" goes to stay with her ridiculously young female "guardian" (Mona Christensen) and the latter's unfaithful, brutish husband. "Bilitis" falls in love with the (slightly)older woman and they have a long lesbian sex scene. The guardian spurns her afterwards, but "Bilitis", taking it like a trooper, decides to try to personally "find a man" for her after her husband walks out. "Bilitis" also has a would-be beau herself, a young photographer (just like the director, hmmm). Respected actor Mathieu Carriere also shows up as one would-be suitor for the "older" woman, but I THINK he's supposed to be gay. The film ends with EVERYONE left pretty unhappy, which is really the only place the downbeat influence of Breillat shows through the soft-focus schmaltz of Hamilton.

Although he is the polar opposites in his taste in women (Hamilton's actresses rarely have enough fat on their young bodies to make for more than a B-cup), David Hamilton is a lot like "bosomaniac" American director Russ Meyer in a way. No heterosexual male can honestly say he is turned off by bountiful breasts OR nubile 18-year-old bodies, but if you don't happen to share either of these director's obsessive personal fetishes, their work gets kind of tedious after awhile. This movie would have been vastly improved , for instance, if the guardian had been played by a voluptuous older woman instead of another young nymph like Christensen. (It's not that I really advocate inter-generational lesbian sex, but if you're gonna do it, do it right).

I'd definitely recommend this for David Hamilton fans, but otherwise, ehhhhh.

Those of you familiar with David Hamilton as a photographer will (at least) make sense of his visual treatment in Bilitis. Very lush and sensual, with a voyeuristic appeal: we are drawn in to great visuals of the young Ms. D'Arbanville getting undressed, washing, getting cozy with another female friend in bed, and becoming a voyeur herself! But Hamilton should have gone a bit further with the love scenes and erotic visuals; we are only treated to a nibble of his talent. If you are turned-on by girl-girl and lolita themes, then you will probably enjoy Bilitis. Otherwise, just watch it for the few visual delights... the story is a snoozer.

I remember vaguely having heard the music of this film when I was a child, a wonderful score composed by Francis Lai. After waiting so many years to watch this movie, I was quite disappointed; the director (photographer David Hamilton) was able to create a dream-like atmosphere for the film, but that's about it. "Bilitis" is an almost plot less, erotic feature about a teenage girl who is confused about her sexuality (she is attracted to both girls and boys). Patty D'Arbanville plays the main role with a certain charm and naivety, but the rest of the characters are completely flat and uninteresting. Nevertheless, there is an acute sense of romance and nostalgic longing in this movie, plus the unforgettable soundtrack and fine cinematography (reminded me of impressionist paintings...) Rating: 5/10