Justine De Sade

Justine's story follows her attempts to lead a virtuous life in a cruel world as she travels through 18th Century France passing from one perverted character to another. Justine, who for much of the film uses the alias Therese, is a magnificently beautiful yet very naive young woman. She claims to have been abandoned by her parents when just twelve years of age but just doesn't seem to realise that informing every stranger she meets that she is 'but a poor orphan girl already well acquainted with ill- fortune' is like an open invitation to let them do whatever they wish with her. Her natural beauty has doubtless provided her with a first class ticket to lead a privileged life if she were to choose that route, but her overwhelming desire to maintain her virtue leaves her totally vulnerable. Poor and kindly Justine's blinkered desire for virtue leads to her suffering one form of sexual degradation after another.

Poor Justine, why is it that sometimes the kindest people are the most annoying? As the film progresses it becomes easy to loose pity with her and to question whether she really is driven by her claims of virtue or whether she is just plain stupid. Arno does an excellent job in portraying Justine with a blank expression which gives credence to the latter, although one can perhaps forgive her for feeling safe by seeking solace in a rural monastery following her encounter with Monsieur Rodin. Once again though, Justine is to learn that she can trust anyone and the monks take little time in enrolling her into the group of beautiful female sex slaves they keep for their amusement. Even after escaping the monastery her misfortunes continue on and on.

Sitting through the near two hours of the film one cannot help but question whether Justine has any natural sexual desires, perhaps despite her magnificent looks, inside she is like some aged spinster (rather like the dubbed voice) for whom sex is a dirty word or perhaps she is just too gormless to realise that a less humble approach and doing what comes naturally could bring great reward without her losing her precious virtue.

Throughout the film it seemed that somewhere there had to be a Prince Charming to rescue this young beauty if only from herself. Once again though, Justine's judgement is called into question as she uncharacteristically confesses her overwhelming desire for the acceptably handsome, yet wicked, Count de Bressac whose own passions are directed his male companion Jasmine.

Justine de Sade is undoubtedly a film that will not appeal to all and perhaps its main strengths are its uniqueness and the period it was made. It really is not a film to be taken too seriously despite the dubious moral/immoral intentions of de Sade's original work and is probably too soft core for the serious devotee of the genre. I would though, recommend it as a saucy tale to stir your fantasies featuring numerous lovely naked women with beautiful bums (Arno's especially!) and a host of delightfully wicked characters who would put the worst pantomime villains to shame. It's definitely worth a viewing!