This is one of Candida Royalle's opuses from her much-publicized Femme production company. She started directing and producing her own adult films after a few years of performing in them. She claims she was highly dissatisfied with the products the adult industry turned out, especially the films' bias toward the male viewer at the expense of females. So to rectify this she set up shop and started producing her own movies, garnering much publicity in the adult and "straight" media along the way.
'Christine's Secret' is one of the results, and it's typical in a lot of ways. Some of the raunchy excesses found in many porn films are gone, but there's still enough of the old hardcore formula left to identify it with that genre. The result is that a lot of folks coming from both sides don't particularly enjoy the Femme productions. There are those who say it's too soft and those who claim they can't tell the difference between Femme and a regular hardcore picture. Plus, a lot of viewers are disappointed that Royalle's films aren't any better than they are. Budgets always seem to be low, scripts aren't that original, the acting is not that great, and in general the promise of feminine/feminist porn isn't delivered.
I'm notoriously easy to please when it comes to adult films and I give 'Christine's Secret' passing marks because of the sexual performances of the cast, a mix of Femme regulars and other old pros. But I find the production lacking and the story nothing special. Candida Royalle has gotten a lot of publicity for Femme over the years but the quality as well as quantity of her output doesn't justify it, in my opinion.
