Unquestionably one of the defining stars of the Golden Age of French XXX, Marilyn Jess is more than worthy of her title: winsome and with an almost ethereal beauty, she elevates films far beyond their station. Churned out at the twilight of Jess' career, IL ETAIT UNE FOIS MARILYN JESS (appropriately titled in the past-tense) is an intriguing though scattershot portrait of the by-then-experienced star, offering some interesting glimpses at her personality while weighed down by footage of random porn scenes.
Produced during the shooting of INITIATION D'UNE JEUNE MARQUISE, a charming-looking piece of period porn, IL ETAIT's roving camera pops in to check on Jess (and friends) from time to time, peppering her with questions about her history and feelings on the industry, along with a lot of idiotic filler about how much she loves sucking dicks. Admirably patient, Jess answers both with equal candor, providing surprisingly serious responses to often-stupid queries that seem set up to deliver PENTHOUSE FORUM-style answers. The portrait of Jess that emerges is of a charming and playful troublemaker, who enjoys her work (as long as she's not doing anal) but is also thinking seriously about her career and the ramifications of having sex in an industry where AIDS is a matter of increasing concern.
In between, the film adds outtakes from INITIATION, which feature attractive performers in a cool location (apparently one of the producers' families' real homes, shot on the sly while his relatives were away!). The problem is, divorced from the context of the film, these scenes have no way of building heat, and they emerge as little more than filler. There's certainly a lot worse you could watch, but the semi-serious aspirations of the footage surrounding it leave the viewer wishing the filmmakers had scrapped the XXX angle and prepped this instead as a soft-X doc. It would've been far more digestible and illuminating.
Nevertheless, it's a pleasure getting to spend an hour and change with Jess, wrapping up her career but still in good spirits. The end has her stripping out of her period robes and promising more to come - a promise that would sadly go unfulfilled, though we're all better for having known her.