Based on the IMDB trivia, "Justine" was indeed a very troubled production. It went through two directors and the second one, George Cukor sounds as if he just gave up, as he found his leading lady to be quite temperamental and difficult to direct. Additionally, the movie was an expensive production and lost a LOT of money.
The story is set in 1938 in Egypt, though if you look at Anouk Aimée, she looks straight out of a 1969 fashion magazine. In other words, the film didn't excel at trying to get the costuming right. Additionally, the film seems to be more concerned with revelry than dialog and multi-dimensional characters.
Darley (Michael York) is a Brit who is shacking up with a really messed up woman. At the same time, he falls for another really messed up woman (Anouk Aimée) as do most of the straight men in the movie. As for her, she seems consistent with a Borderline Personality...having shallow and promiscuous relationships with practically everyone even though she is married. It turns out she's working on getting guns to Palestine and you wonder if maybe her goofy and outlandish behavior might be a cover for this illegal activity. I don't know...but by the time this came out, I was already VERY bored.
Whether or not this movie does the work of Lawrence Durrell justice, I have no idea. Perhaps his book is excellent. Perhaps, like the film, it's dull and superficial. All I know is that it was a major chore to sit through it and my attention almost constantly waned. Perhaps there was some deeper meaning to the story...but I didn't notice any.
