Marquis de Sade's Justine

Jess Franco's interpretation of the Marquis de Sade's Justine, seems a bit tame for my taste. I really wasn't expecting much going into this (it IS Jess Franco, after all...) so I can't say I was that disappointed. I was expecting a pretty average sleaze film, and that's what I got...

Justine and her sister are banished from a private school when their father dies and leaves them no money for tuition. The one sister goes to a whorehouse to work, Justine decides that ain't her thing. The rest of the film is pretty much comprised of Justine being subjected to different forms of exploitation that would have been way worse than what she would have experienced in the whorehouse...

Nothing really notable about JUSTINE, other than the beautiful women that show far too little skin. Don't get me wrong - there is nudity in the film - even some brief full-frontal - but it's never long enough or in the right situation to be arousing or memorable. The acting is decent - the sets and costumes are very well done, and the story is relatively entertaining - but it tends to drag. It actually took me three viewings to watch it all the way through, because I kept falling asleep (though I partially blame that on the bourbon...). Not a horrible film, worth a look to exploit fans, just don't expect too much...6/10

Cloistered at a nun convent sisters Justine : Romina Power and Florette : Maria Rohm are forced to abandon the nunnery protection . Then the brazen, flirtatious Florette follows a life of deabuchery, prostitution, robbering and murder , while the virginal, virtuous Justine wishes to remain innocent but instead slips into a life of distress , torture , whipping , bondage , branding , kidnapping , slavery , predatory lesbianism, and salaciousness . Justine attempts to mantain her virtue and her standards against lewd people , unfortunately , she is victimized by everyone she encounters . Justine's only possible hope of true love and salvation in a suave and elegant painter : Harald Leipnitz .

Freely based on Marquis Sade novel, dealing with the nubile young Justine lousily played by Romina Power , as a good-natured girl cast out of a nun orphanage who is thrust into a depraved world of abusers , crazy priests , and lascivious people . There're also some scenes dealing with Marquis de Sade : Klaus Kinski , in fact being paced by means of flashbacks when the Marquis is imprisoned during pre-French Revolution Bastille , along the way he has dreams , nightmares , vision , and a lot of images of naked women . It is a twisted tale of strange desires , betrayals , perverse pleasures , prurient men and corruption of innocence as told by the Marquis de Sade himself . And outstanding Maria Rohm as the roguish Juliette , she was a ravishing beauty married to film producer Harry Alan Towers . And Jack Palance overacting , as usual, as a supreme sadistic monk . Being a Spanish/German/Italian production , here apppears Spaniard actors as Gustavo Re , Luis Ciges , Claudia Gravi, Jose Luis Martin, Carmen De Lirio, Gerard Tichy , Italian : Sylva Koscina , Roxemary Dexter , Rosalba Neri , German : Harold Leipnitz , Klaus Kinski , Horst Frank and American : Jack Palance , Mercedes McCambridge , Akim Tamiroff , Jack Palance . Special mention for the colorful cinematography by Manuel Merino, in a luxurious copy perfectly remastered , shot on location in Park Güell, Castell de Montjuic , Palau and Park de Montjuic , Plaza de Sant Felipe Neri , Plaza del Rey , Ciutat Vella , Barcelona , Spain . Along with a potent and rousing musical score by Bruno Nicolai. The motion picture was regularly directed by the prolific Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco .

This book by Marquis de Sade has been adapted as "Justine de Sade" 1972 by Claude Pierson with Alice Arno , Marco Perrin, Franco Fantasía . "Cruel Passion" 1977 by Chris Boger with Koo Stark and Martin Potter . And about Marquis de Sade there are some films as "Marquis" 1989 written by Roland Topor and "Quills" by Philip Kauffman with Geoffrey Rush , Joaquin Phoenix, Uma Thurman .

On paper, this looks like THE greatest exploitation idea ever! The vicious writings of Marquis de Sade brought to the screen by no less a person then the Godfather of sleaze: Jess Franco! And starring the fabulously outrageous Klaus Kinski as the Marquis. And there are several other aspects about this film that indicate that you're about to see a triumph in the euro-exploitation field. Like the rather big budget. Franco normally makes the most out of small budgets but here he actually had the chance to work with decent set pieces, costumes and actors. The cast is more than decent with Jack Palance, Howard Vernon (Franco regular) and the ravishing Maria Rohm and Romina Power. This latter one plays the title role and – as well as the entire film – disappoints. The movie is a series of unspectacular events and I never saw Franco this tame! Marquis de Sade: Justine is low on violence, low on nudity and extremely low surprises. Kinski is dreadfully underused and the whole thing is just too correct! Which is NOT Franco's trademark…

Of course, it's very stylish and guided by brilliant music. The sets are gorgeous and the two leading ladies remain a joy to stare (preferably when they keep their mouths shut). This certainly isn't Franco's finest film but I'll still prefer it over 99% of the amateurish crap that is brought out nowadays. Franco rules, but he had a bad day here!

Marquis De Sade: Justine is a long way from being unwatchable as there are a number of things that are good. It is however a very strange film and not a very easy one to rate.

Starting with what is good about Marquis De Sade: Justine, coming off best is the music score which is outstanding, if on occasions overpowering, very stirring and rich in sound and it fits the film very well. The film also looks good, the sets are simply gorgeous, the plentiful costumes are certainly attractive and a lot of care was clearly put into the cinematography which is beautiful. The crowd scenes are tense and rousing and while he sometimes overdoes with the fading in and out Jesse Franco does give some of his most competent directing ever, though it does feel very different for him. While I was not very impressed with the acting generally, the charming Maria Rohm makes the most out of her brief role and Mercedes Mccambridge is an absolute hoot.

Romina Power is very wooden in the lead role on the other hand, while Klaus Kinski is criminally underused and pretty much wasted, spending his entire screen looking remote, and Jack Palance is embarrassingly over-the-top and out of place. I like Palance but not here, he's not as bad as he was in Che! and Outlaw of Gor but this is one of his worst performances. While the film is undeniably fun there are too many times where the story is episodically disjointed and lethargically paced, sometimes not as cohesive as it could be. It also feels very tame and toned down by today's standards and not sleazy or sensual enough, the story is one where those qualities are necessary and it just felt bland and agreed too correct. The ending is very heavy-handed when you can actually hear the dialogue when it's not being drowned out the stilted way it's written and uninvolved line delivery from most makes it not really worth listening to.

In conclusion, not unwatchable but very strange and not easy to make of. 5/10 Bethany Cox

In a word; terrible. The actual story "Justine" is a somewhat perverted morality tale that has a very shrewd understory; de Sade is well known in spite of his fascination with the perverse - he truly was a gifted wordsmith.

Would that the same could be said of Franco's "Justine". According to Franco on the short interview included on the DVD, Romina Power was basically forced on him to be the "star", and he does not hide his disgust at her performance in the interview. Franco didn't want her, Power didn't seem to care either way (he said she rarely even knew when the camera was rolling; basically, she'd have a hard time even playing convincing furniture) and to things even better, Romina's Mom tagged along.

If you're looking for S&M, you're not going to find it here. If you're looking for nudity, you will find it here, but you quickly won't care. If you're interested in the Marquis de Sade, you won't learn anything about him by watching this. If you're on Death Row with two hours left, then this truly is the film for you; but all others should really steer clear.

Klaus Kinski was listed as the star of the film in Europe, and yet he speaks no lines and interacts with none of the other characters in the film. The first few minutes of the film (around 10 minutes, but it seemed like 30) show Kinski as the Marquis. He appears to be swimming in a sea of writing compulsions and drifting beyond the bounds of reality, or he's simply in dire need of a strong laxative. Either way, his segments are interspersed throughout the film, and they add absolutely nothing.

Jack Palance is wildly flamboyant, but it's hard to tell what the heck is going on with him anyway. In one particularly bizarre sequence he's gliding around on some sort of a wheeled dolly like a wax statue. According to Franco, Palance was always drunk, but he was pleased with his performance as Antonin.

It's not erotic. It's not sensual. It's not alluring. My wife and I watched it anticipating something like "The Story of O", but ended up with "The Story of O No". Definitely NOT recommended.