Viol et Châtiment

This movie did get a bad rap. Chris Sarandon is excellent as a school teacher who rapes fashion model Margeaux Hemingway. There is lots of tension before the rape and we really see Chris as a big time weirdo who plays really bad music while poor Margeaux tries to make an excuse to leave the room. When he sees this as a way of her dismissing him as a person he goes berserk. The rape scene is actually not as graphic as some of the crap that passes todays censors. For a first time actress I think Margeaux was quite good. Her little sister proves natural acting talent does run in the Hemingway family. She does excel in this role an gives an understated perforamce especially after she herself is raped by the same teacher. The building used in the fashion sequences is not the Beverly Center as mentioned by another IMDb user but actually the Pacific Design Center a few blocks away. The ending is quite good as it shows the hypocrisy of our legal system. Anne Bancroft adds a bit of class to this production and the disco music is dated but it gives this movie a cool 70's feel. The ending is sensational but still believable.