Justine (1969)

Set in France just before the revolution, two young sisters, Justine (Romina Power) and Juliette (Maria Rohm) are turned out of a convent when their mother dies and their father flees the country. While Juliette leads a wicked life (including murder) rising from prostitute to the mistress of a government official, Justine is raped, tortured, mutilated and held prisoner while attempting to lead a life of virtue. Based on the infamous novel by the Marquis De Sade and directed by sleaze master Jesus Franco. Who knew perversion could be so tedious? If there were any artfulness to the film, I'd call it softcore porn masquerading as art but there's no artistry in sight. The film is a mess! I've nothing against trash and, in fact, have enjoyed some of Franco's sleazy films (99 WOMEN, VENUS IN FURS) somewhat but here Franco seems to think he's making something provocative and the movie is anything but. It's a bigger budget than Franco is used to working with and it shows, it's certainly in many ways a sumptuous looking film. But a good looking corpse is still a corpse. The only interesting part of the film is when Justine is working as a maid for a decadent aristocratic couple (Sylva Koscina, Horst Franck). The dreadful score is by Bruno Nicolai. With Jack Palance (who's just awful), Mercedes McCambridge, Akim Tamiroff, Rosemary Dexter, Rosalba Neri, Harald Leipnitz and Klaus Kinski as the Marquis De Sade.