Review of Eugenie

Introduction

Inspired by the Marquis de Sade`s "Philosophy in the Boudoir", Eugenie is the story of the degeneration of a girl during one weekend. From innocence to corruption. It`s an erotic sado-masochistic story from the mid-18th century which isn`t something that could be translated literally to the big screen back in the late 60s. The screenplay was written by veteran British writer/producer Harry Alan Towers and taken up by Spain`s Jess Franco.

Video

The 2.35:1 anamorphic video transfer is quite clear for the most part with very little grain. The rich colour palette used is indicative of the 60s/70s era and has some minor dirt on show. Some shots look a little soft though it`s hard to distinguish this from art or poor focusiing. There`s use of a red filter in two key scenes of violence and this is balanced well without bleeding any other colours. Detail is fairly good too which is surprising to see on an old film.

Audio

The English DD2.0 soundtrack is clear though the re-recorded sound doesn`t synch with the actors` lips. It`s a bit disconcerting throughout the whole film because the actors are speaking English with the timing of the dub slightly off. Plus the timbre and other sound affects don`t match. Apart from this oddity, the rest of the sound is clear with no sign of distortion, hiss or crackle.

Features

Easy to navigate animated menus with a few extras:

• Trailer (3:13) - Long and boring. Need I say anymore?

• Perversion Stories (17:30) - Anamorphically enhanced, this is a good set of interviews with director Jess Franco, producer/writer Harry Towers, Christopher Lee, and Marie Liljedahl who plays Eugenie. Filmed in 2002, this short retrospective covers the intentions of everyone involved at the time in `69 as well as the deception of Christopher Lee who had no idea he was acting in an erotic film at the time. Interesting, but too short. I could easily watch more of this if there was more.

• Poster and Still Gallery - I counted no less than 123 publicity stills and posters. Quite a few are repeated however.

• Jess Franco Biography - 20 static pages on the man himself with a selected filmography too. It`s an interesting read and some of it is already covered in the Perversion Stories documentary. He`s clearly someone with a lot to say.

• Liner Notes - Notes written about Eugenie by Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog. This is an interesting read for the uninitiated and covers the background to the story that Eugenie is based on.

These are good extras, though it`s a shame that the Perversion Stories isn`t longer. By covering aspects surrounding the film I found it to be far more interesting than the film itself. There are no subtitles. Eugenie comes in a standard keepcase.

Conclusion

Not being familiar with the original story, I can`t say for sure if this `inspired` version of the Marquis de Sade`s, "Philosophy in the Boudoir", make`s a good piece of film. The ideas are intriguing and I suspect that my own imagination would make something rather more of the film here. There`s a fine line between erotica and porno though and there`s none of the latter here. Filmed in a mere 3-4 weeks, the film was released in 1969 and was a huge hit. It`s the one film that self-critical director Jess Franco says, "Of all my films, it`s the one I hate least".

I`ll be honest, I wasn`t sure what to expect from watching Eugenie. My dark side was curious, as always, so I watched the film with an open mind. I can certainly appreciate the filmmakers intentions, but sadly I found the going somewhat dull and uninspired. While the actual story that Eugenie is based on is explicit, the film here is too arty, and while it contains some interesting imagery, it moves along at a snails pace. The erotic images while arousing aren`t things you`ll not have seen before. Even the physical whipping isn`t distasteful or shocking by today`s liberal standards.

If you`re the type that needs a conventional plot to guide you along, you`ll not find one here! Instead we get the impression that this is Eugenie`s seduction into masochism where a typical plot might spoil the unfolding of Eugenie`s experience. As you might imagine, this film won`t suit all tastes.

The extras presented with this Anchor Bay disc are interesting but the film itself isn`t. If you too find yourself somewhat curious, then by all means rent the DVD or perhaps do a bit of reading on the Marquis de Sade and let your imagination go ape. Unless you`re a purveyor of this kind of material/genre, then I`m sure you won`t miss this film if you don`t see it.