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 JUSTINE DE
SADE (Blue
Underground) 1972. Historical Drama. 115 Minutes. Not rated. Tons of
simulated sex scenes woven loosely into the writings of The Marquis de
Sade. Poor Justine (The delectable Alice Arno) is a sweet, virginal girl
who is attacked on all sides by every manner of sexual perversion under
the sun. From S&M to wild group sex with a group of monks. Justine’s
life is spent in trying and failing to keep her morality intact. With each
encounter she tries to withstand the assaults on her virtue and with each
one she slowly succumbs to the temptations of the flesh.
Blue Underground has managed to give us the definitive
version of director Claude Pierson’s film. How definitive, you ask?
Scenes that only existed in the subtitled French version are plugged into
this film. It can be a little disconcerting while watching the film to all
of a sudden go from dubbed English to subtitled French, but you get used
to it pretty quickly. Besides, if this is the only way we are going to get
this version, then it’s better than nothing. There is a lot of simulated
sex as well as a couple of faked money shots that look like water more
than, well, you know. If you’re looking for hardcore you’ve come to
the wrong show, but this is pretty good for intense soft-core sex. After a
while the constant scenes of Justine begging for her virtue and then
getting banged anyway start bordering on the comedic. I really didn’t
feel too much for the poor girl, but Alice Arno is breathtakingly
beautiful naked so, I guess I was on the bad guys side for this one. Blue
Underground does a magnificent job of restoring a film that is wonderful
to look at and an important entry in the specific genre of film’s based
on the writings of The Marquis de Sade. I’m amazed that Franco didn’t
do this one. –Douglas Waltz
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