Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Red-Barracuda Eugenie is prolific director Jesus Franco's adaption of the Marquis de Sade's 'Philosophy in the Boudoir'. He made several films based on de Sade's writings. In my opinion, this is one of the best films that he ever directed; seemingly he himself said that it was his own personal favourite of his works and it has certainly been made with considerably more care than Franco became known for. It came out at a time when he was making films for producer Harry Alan Towers and, like the others from this cycle; it does seem to have a lot more production value than Franco would soon become known for. After all, this one features British acting legend Christopher Lee in the role of the mysterious character Dolmance. Apparently Lee was not best happy when he saw the completed film on account of the abundant nudity and sleaze – he said Franco added these parts in when he wasn't on set, in fairness viewing the film with this in mind it does appear perfectly likely that this indeed happened.Aside from Lee, the film stars Franco regular Maria Rohm as Mme. de St. Ange, who reads the Marquis book and fantasises about its decadent contents. The sweet Marie Liljedahl plays the title character Eugenie, the young innocent who is lured into sin by Mme. de St. Ange on her island retreat, alongside her lover Mirvel (Jack Taylor). These two libertines drug her and abuse her in ways that involve sadomasochistic games, inspired by the dark master of ceremonies, Dolmance and his obedient followers.What really makes this Franco film stand out is that despite containing lots of nudity and perversion – including the then taboo subjects of sadomasochism, lesbianism and inter-racial kisses, and the still taboo subject of incest - it benefits from very nice cinematography, including some rather attractively shot island scenery; while it also has some lush music from Bruno Nicolai to add additional class to proceedings. When you take into account that it looks and sounds good, has interesting actors and a story that makes sense, what you are left with is a genuinely stylish sexploitation film. A film that shows both Franco and its sub-genre at their best.

lazarillo "Eugenie" is a scandalous story from the Marquis de Sade about a naive young girl who is sold by her father into the servitude of a married pair of depraved libertines who proceed to seduce and debauch her. Not surprisingly, it has not received a lot cinematic treatment (and could probably not even be made these days). Even the incredibly prolific and repetitive Jesus Franco only made two versions of the story, this and one in the early 80's called "Erotismo" ("Eugenie de Sade", made a year later with Soledad Miranda, is also based on a De Sade story, but is about a very different character also named Eugenie).This is no doubt the better version. It was made at a time when Franco had access to plenty of a money through producer Harry Allen Towers and quality international stars, not only Maria Rohm and Jack Taylor as the libertine couple, but even Christopher Lee (who apparently had no idea what he was getting into) as the leader of the strange sex cult the pair belong to. As the title character Eugenie, Swedish actress Marie "Inga" Lillejahl is a typical Franco actress of the period--not as talented as some Franco collaborators like Soledad Miranda or Rosalba Neri, but very beautiful and classy unlike many of his later actresses (including his wife Lina Romay, who beautiful as she was, had a bad tendency of indulging the director in his most tasteless cinematic fantasies). Lillejahl, I might also add, was older than the character she played, and it turns out it's much better to cast a twenty year old as a fourteen year in a fairly explicit role than an actual fourteen year old as he did in "Erotismo" (Katja Beinert, who ironically could have easily passed for twenty), not only for moral reasons but also artistic ones--just as a drunk is best played by someone who is not actually drunk, a naive innocent is most effectively played by someone who is NOT actually a naive innocent.The beautiful, dream-like style of the movie also does a lot to mitigate the inherent sleaziness of the subject matter. The scenes of Lillejahl stumbling naked along barren sand dunes with lots of phallic jutting rocks as the morning sun comes up are very memorable (even if they don't make a lot of sense). The repetitive opening and closing sequences Franco uses is a hoary device that goes all the way back to the British classic "Dead of Night", but it is quite effective and really adds to the dream-like atmosphere. One of the "good" Franco movies.

Infofreak I'm sorry, I just can't be objective about 'Eugenie'. As I already love Jess Franco movies I can't even begin to imagine what someone unfamiliar with his output would make of this one. They'd probably be bored I suppose, but it's difficult to say. If you already groove behind Franco's strange and stylish sexploitation movies you will enjoy this one, loosely based on the Marquis De Sade. Franco regulars Jack Taylor ('Succubus'), Maria Rohm ('The Bloody Judge') and Paul Muller ('Vampyros Lesbos') are on hand, but the main reason to watch this is for the gorgeous Marie Liljedahl, best remembered as the star of 60s erotic cult fave 'Inga', and the appearance of horror legend Christopher Lee. Lee basically did this one as a favour for producer Harry Alan Towers, filmed for one day, and was later shocked to see the nudity that surrounded him. Franco made some borderline hardcore movies in his career, but despite being inspired by De Sade, 'Eugenie' isn't one of them, and is really quite tame. There's lots of nudity, and a bit of whipping, but that's about it. Eugenie's "journey into perversion" mainly appears to involve having her breasts fondled by various people and smoking a funny cigarette, but as Ms. Liljedahl is such a major babe most viewers will not be disappointed. The movie seems to have a much larger budget than many of Franco's other similar movies, and while the ultra-groovy soundtrack isn't as mind-blowing as 'Vampyros Lesbos' it's still very cool. So Franco fans will really dig this one, but newcomers are best advised checking out 'Succubus' or 'Vampyros Lesbos' first. Jess Franco's movies are certainly an acquired taste, but once you get hooked they are a real delight! I've only seen about a dozen out of his 200+ (or is that 300+?) output, and I would put 'Eugenie' somewhere in the middle. Not his best, but still recommended to fans of 1960s Eurosleaze.

Rob_Lineberger Eugenie is a film that shocked 1969 audiences, with interracial kissing, woman-to-woman fondling, and brother-sister sex games. It is beautifully filmed, sublimely acted (within its cult pedigree), and has reams of coolness, which makes it a good bet for modern audiences. If you get bored watching Connery drive his Aston Martin to a romantic rendezvous for some witty repartee, Eugenie will likely bore you. If you prefer graphic to simulated, you might find it lame. But if you can buy into the characters and appreciate the care of the filmmaking, Eugenie is a rewarding, disturbing piece of celluloid. In the interview, Franco states "Of all my films, it is the one I hate the least." If you know Franco and his staggering body of work, that's saying something.