The Marquis de Sade: 10 Films Based On His Life and Literature

7. Marquis de Sade: Justine (1968)

04.03.2013just2 Yes it's Franco again with more de Sadean hijinks. This time interpreting the novel Justine, Or The Misfortunes of Virtue. The Marquis de Sade himself makes an appearance in the film - played by Klaus Kinski. The film budget was large for a Franco film. Very similar in storyline to Chris Boger's adaptation of Justine. Our heroine and her sister Juliette are booted out of a nunnery and end up in a brothel. Juliette takes to her circumstances extremely well and decides to become a prossie. Justine is horrified and scarpers. After being framed for robbery by a bunch of ne'er do wells, Justine ends up in prison, but an inmate takes a shine to her and the two of them bust out. Hiding out in the forest, the woman she escaped with - Madame Dubois - agree to take her on, but Justine is terribly bothered by the male members of the group who try to rape her. She makes a run for it and ends up with a painter called Raymond with whom she is happy with for a brief while. When the police come looking for her, Raymond orders her into the forest. She happens upon a Marquis and Marquise who are impressed with her innocent look. The Marquis wants her to poison the Marquise, so she tells the Marquise who tries to poison the Marquis but is poisoned herself instead. The Marquis brands Justine with a big M for murderer between her breasts. Justine goes to a chateau where four Ascetics are practising prayer and meditation. Surely she will be safe here? Wrong! The men are libertines and seriously perverted. Justine ends up locked in a dungeon and whipped. One of the men remarks that preserving her virtue has brought her nothing but pain and misery. Her suffering should end and he will kill her. During the ceremony for the killing, things go awry and Justine escapes yet again. A series of circumstances occur which end up with Justine back in the hands of Madame Dusbois - who pimps her out to a circus as a nude performer. The audience see the M between her breasts and in an uproar, the police come to take Justine away. Her sister Juliette, who has whored, stolen and killed her way up to the position of mistress of a minister of The King, witnesses the spectacle and says Justine will be rewarded for her life of purity but she herself will be punished for her sins. A lot of the above sounds like a heroine wandering around a fairytale rather than an adaptation of a Marquis de Sade book. The Marquis as played by Klaus Kinski is a non speaking role and just requires Kinski to look solemn as he writes, or pace around the cell in anguish. Romina Power (daughter of Tyrone) makes a crap Justine. The script had to be changed to suit her. One wonders how much better the film would have been if Franco had been allowed to pick his own leading lady. Even Koo Stark is better as Justine in Boger's version. The film doesn't have a Sadean feel to it. It is more of an 18th century historical romp. Nevertheless, the film is Franco at his most technically competent and watchable. Just don't be expecting oodles of violent depravity.
 
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Contributor
Contributor

My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!