justine

It’s ridiculously ironic that, thanks to companies like Blue Underground, I’ve probably written more comprehensive reviews for the work of Jess Franco than John Ford, Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg combined. Of course, Franco has the edge in quantity, with some 200 films attributed to the director under various pseudonyms. But quality: that’s a word not often associated with any of his productions.

So it’s surprising when you stumble upon titles like Justine (1968) and Eugenie (1969), a pair of psycho-sexual soft-core shenanigans based on the writings of the 17th century author / pornographer / sadist Marquis de Sade. Franco freely admits an affinity for the writer, whose name lends a naughty sort of legitimacy to the director’s usual exploitation oeuvre. But the most frustrating thing about Franco is he makes it difficult write his work off completely; there are always elements that hint at the soul of an artist lurking inside the filmography of a hack.

Justine is the much more technically polished of the two, although it trades in Sade's taboo subject matter for a more casually erotic travelogue akin to many Italian romps of the day. Set in a sort of European fairy tale, Justine (played by Romina Power, the daughter of Tyrone Power) and her sister Juliette (Maria Rohm) part ways after leaving their life in the convent, with Juliette immediately turning to a life of prostitution and crime to make ends meet. While the virtuous Justine is pushed and pulled from one misadventure to the next, somehow managing to keep her morality and virginity intact.

The film keeps keeps things lively with a pair of unforgettable performances by Mercedes McCambridge (the voice of the demon in The Exorcist) as a wily criminal mastermind and Jack Palance as a mentally unhinged scholar of uninhibited pleasure. The shuffling scenarios set a pleasantly episodic pace and help distract from Power's lack of acting skills...although her inability to emote does match well with her character's staggering naïveté. What's more impressive is Franco's skill in cobbling together such an entertaining, all-ages-allowed version of what was a scandalous piece of sacrilege on the page.

Eugenie...The Story of her Journey into Perversion sticks much closer to the seedy side of the author's work. Madame Saint Ange (Maria Rohm again) and her stepbrother lure young Eugenie (Marie Liljedah) to their isolated island mansion with the intention of introducing her to their sexually sadistic lifestyle. But when Christopher Lee turns up accompanied by a gang of costumed hangers-on, the story takes an unexpected turn.

Eugenie shares the same gaussian quality of Franco's other cinematic highlight, Venus in Furs; relating the story like a languid fever dream. The director's penchant for poorly focused shots and peeping tom camera angles can be maddening. But the film is balanced with beautiful landscapes and a killer score from Bruno Nicolai, who brought him "A"- game to the soundtrack for Justine as well. Make no mistake; Eugenie is still an embarrassment by Hollywood standards. But for Franco fans it’s an embarrassment of riches, exploring all the director’s favorite themes and off-screen obsessions.

While the Franco pipeline has slowed to a trickle on home video of late, Blue Underground delivers a pair of special editions for the ages! Each three-disc set (available separately) features a new 4K scan from the original negative and looks genuinely remarkable on Blu-ray. Along with a bonus DVD copy comes all the extras from the original standard-def titles - which on Justine includes a 20-minute documentary - and a new interview with Franco biographer Stephen Thrower, whose work is also included in the liner notes. Eugenie includes another previously released 20-minute documentary, a new HD still and poster gallery, another interview with Thrower to match his liner notes and - best of all - both titles come with an extra CD Soundtrack of the complete Nicolai scores.

Score, indeed!