Justine: 'A Matter of Innocence' (1980)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
After the death of her father, Justine (Hillary Summers) travels from France to the United States to live with her uncle. The virgin Justine soon realizes the various kinky things going on inside the house and before long her beauty becomes a fixation for several men.
Roberta Findlay's JUSTINE: A MATTER OF INNOCENCE is without question the crown jewel in the director's career but I'd take it a step further and say that this here is one of the greatest adult movies ever made. It's really a shame that so many people look down on the adult genre because it features hardcore sex because there are a handful of movies that really deserve much more credit and this here is one of them.
I was really blown away by how entertaining this movie was as it tackles incest in a very serious way and the drama that the film carries is very impressive. I'm going to avoid spoilers so I won't go into the details of the hardships this Justine character goes through but it was perfectly handled by Findlay and it leads up to a wonderful and very satisfying ending.
What's even better is that we get some terrific performances scattered throughout the cast. You've got Summers who is terrific in the title role and she really does make you believe she's this naive virgin. So many films go for the "young girl" route but more times than not the actresses are bland or not believable but that's not the case here. Summers really sells the role and makes you believe everything you're watching. Vanessa del Rio is terrific in her part as is Ashley Moore in the role of the uncle who has his own desires.
The sex scenes are also extremely good. Not only is the cinematography terrific but all of the sex scenes are quite erotic and especially the bathtub sequence between Moore and del Rio. I think I can honestly say that there wasn't a single sex scene here that didn't have some fire behind it and once again Findlay deserves the credit for really delivering the goods. Through in the wonderful set design and you've really got a memorable film that deserves to be better known than it is.
