Eugenie de Sade

Jess Franco has made so many movies and has been part of the Euro trash consciousness for so long that the "idea" of Franco and his unique work is sometimes more powerful than the films themselves.

The exquisite Soledad Miranda is the main reason for spending ninety minutes with EUGENIE. She has a natural, magnetic, erotic presence that is both remote and engaging. She personifies the genre like no other.

Eugenie and her stepfather Albert (Paul Muller) indulge in semi-incestuous activities and murder a couple of attractive women for pleasure. A writer, played by Franco himself, usually turns up at the scene of the crime to communicate his approval or sound a warning that their crimes are not going unnoticed.

Ms. Miranda spends lots of quality time sitting around in ultra-skimpy skirts and in no skirts at all. Franco never misses an opportunity to glance between her enticing thighs or ogle her pretty bottom. His is the gaze of a true obsessive, and his muse (whom he was romantically involved with for some time) provides us with creamy erotic fantasy.

The film has a languorous, dreamy shooting style and the simple, sometimes haunting score (by Bruno Nicolai) smooths over the transitions. Sometimes the shots are out of focus or bumpy, but it doesn't really matter. Clearly, Franco was happy to apply an experimental style to films like this (and VAMPYROS LESBOS, for example) and he achieves a loose, dreamy effect.

I must admit, though, that I could have done without Paul Muller's hairy back during his major sex scene with Soledad (but that's just me).