Marquis de Sade's Justine

'Marquis de Sade's 'Justine'' (1968) is easily Jess Franco's most accomplished film, esp. from a technical standpoint, backed by the biggest budget he would ever have. Rich, brilliant colors, skin aplenty, a few perversities, and strange performances from Klaus Kinski, Jack Palance and Mercedes Mccambridge make for an entertaining but relatively tame Franco outing. To boot, Jack Palance's performance ranks as possibly the most bizarre ever seen on film. The dvd includes a revealing 20-minute 'making of' documentary featuring an extensive, contemporary interview with director Franco, and he doesn't hold back. Franco states that Palance was sauced during the entire shoot, drinking red wine all day, each day, starting around 7a.m.

Kinski's role (as de Sade) was originally handed to Orson Welles, but once Welles read the script, he claimed that he simply could not play the part because it included scenes of erotica. In reality, Welles would have had to do a scene with several totally naked women, and this may have made him uncomfortable and nervous. Interestingly, the de Sade character has no lines, and Kinski's scenes are just a bunch of cutaways of him sitting/pacing in a prison cell, mentally tortured, trying to write 'Justine'.

Franco intended to create an explicitly nasty, masochistic film faithful to de Sade's writing; however, according to Franco, he was forced into a watered-down, `Snow-White-lost-in-the-woods' direction because of the producer's decision to cast Tyrone Power's daughter, Romina Power, in the title role. `She was a passenger, wandering around,' Franco scoffed. `She was like a piece of furniture. It was as if I was making Bambi 2'. The role was intended for Rosemary Dexter, who appears in the film in a lesser role.

Franco's version of 'Justine' is not as grim or as depressing as Chris Boger's 'Cruel Passion' (1977), starring Koo Stark, but it's also not as nasty or as perverse. Too bad for Franco fans. --- david ross smith

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

This is one of the ultra-prolific Spanish director Jesus Franco's biggest budget movies, from a period in his career where he took an actual bit of care (i.e. There is actual editing in this one). It's a story based on the notorious 18th century novel by the Marquis de Sade, it tells the story of a couple of Parisian orphan girls. Juliette becomes a prostitute and marries a rich noble, while Justine goes down a purer path but winds up sent to prison for a murder she didn't commit, ends up escaping and encountering a succession of shady characters. There's not a bad cast in this one, with everyone's favourite German with a personality disorder, Klaus Kinski as de Sade (I am guessing this role suited Kinski down to the ground as I don't think he had any lines to learn), Eurotrash babes Maria Rohm, Sylva Koscina and Rosalba Neri appear in various parts, with Jack Palance also appearing in a very strange role indeed. While this is a very uneven movie, it does benefit from its episodic nature, meaning its pacing is not too bad. It could be described under the specific grouping known as literary sexploitation, i.e. Sexploitation for people who read books.

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