Talking to a fellow IMDber about Robert Hossein movies,I found out that Hossein had appeared in an all-star S & M flick by Roger Vadim. Due to this sounding like a rather unique flick,I decided that it was time to whip up a storm.
View on the film:
Kicking off with an air raid siren,co-writer/(along with Claude Choublier & Roger Vailland) director Roger Vadim and cinematographer Marcel Grignon leap over the word "subtle" with robust bombast,with Vadim looking into the eyes of the vicious SS in dazzling,reflecting mirror shots,and rolled out,vast tracking shots pulling up the last days of the Nazis.
Giving the title an unexpected poetic quality with a deep black and white canvas soaked in shadows,Vadim disappointingly shows a timid side in taking on de Sade,with the amount of flesh and blood vice & virtue on show being minimal.
Slipping de Sade into WWII,the screenplay by Vadim/Choublier and Vailland spreads a slick Melodrama over the depravity,by melting the sex games inside the brothel with bubbling romance,with SS Colonel Erik Schörndorf standing Juliette as they drown in the unfolding liberation.
Showing that he can still look super cool even when playing a psychotic Nazi,Robert Hossein gives a terrific performance as Schörndorf,whose stubborn refusal to seeing the end of his beloved SS on the horizon Hossein delivers with a real relish.
Given different fates to de Sade's tale,the beautiful Annie Girardot and Catherine Deneuve both give excellent performances as Juliette,and Justine Morand,thanks to Girlardot wrapping Juliette in a breezy lightness,which is torn by the clinical,cold edges that Deneuve cuts Justine with,as Justine and Juliette explore their vice and virtues.
View on the film:
Kicking off with an air raid siren,co-writer/(along with Claude Choublier & Roger Vailland) director Roger Vadim and cinematographer Marcel Grignon leap over the word "subtle" with robust bombast,with Vadim looking into the eyes of the vicious SS in dazzling,reflecting mirror shots,and rolled out,vast tracking shots pulling up the last days of the Nazis.
Giving the title an unexpected poetic quality with a deep black and white canvas soaked in shadows,Vadim disappointingly shows a timid side in taking on de Sade,with the amount of flesh and blood vice & virtue on show being minimal.
Slipping de Sade into WWII,the screenplay by Vadim/Choublier and Vailland spreads a slick Melodrama over the depravity,by melting the sex games inside the brothel with bubbling romance,with SS Colonel Erik Schörndorf standing Juliette as they drown in the unfolding liberation.
Showing that he can still look super cool even when playing a psychotic Nazi,Robert Hossein gives a terrific performance as Schörndorf,whose stubborn refusal to seeing the end of his beloved SS on the horizon Hossein delivers with a real relish.
Given different fates to de Sade's tale,the beautiful Annie Girardot and Catherine Deneuve both give excellent performances as Juliette,and Justine Morand,thanks to Girlardot wrapping Juliette in a breezy lightness,which is torn by the clinical,cold edges that Deneuve cuts Justine with,as Justine and Juliette explore their vice and virtues.