Justine de Sade (1972)

Director:

Claude Pierson

Writers:

Huguette Boisvert (writer)
Claude Pierson (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

October 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Therese, a beautiful but naive young girl, who finds herself being passed around from depraved pervert to depraved pervert...

Plot Keywords:

Marquis De Sade | Female Nudity | Grindhouse | Lesbian Sex | Breasts

Cast

Alice Arno	...	Justine / Thérèse
Yves Arcanel	...	Dom Sévérino
Michel Bertay
Georges Beauvilliers	...	Roland
Chantal Broquet
Christian Chevreuse	...	Comte de Gernande
Franco Fantasia	...	Saint-Florent
Lida Ferro
Roberto Lande
Robert Lombard
Maurice Mirowski
Max Montavon
Diane Lepvrier	...	Comtesse de Gernande
Marco Perrin	...	Clément
Marcel Portier
André Rouyer	...	Antonin
Dominique Santarelli	...	Rodin
Anicette Touillez
France Verdier	...	Juliette / Madame de Lorsange
Mauro Parenti
Jean Topart	...	Récitant / Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Claude Pierson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Huguette Boisvert		writer
Marquis de Sade		novel "Justine ou les malheurs de la vertu"
Claude Pierson		adaptation

Produced by
Claude Pierson	....	producer

Original Music by
Françoise Cotte
Roger Cotte

Cinematography by
Jean-Jacques Tarbès

Film Editing by
François Ceppi

Production Companies

• Citel Films
• Industrie Cinematografiche Artistiche Romane (I.C.A.R.)
• Pierson Productions

Distributors

• Cinema International Pictures (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Force Video (2003) (Australia) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2005) (USA) (TV)
• Blue Underground (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• After Hours Cinema (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Cinefear (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Framo Diffusion
• France Film
• Oracle Home Entertainment (2002) (UK) (DVD) (restored version)
• Pretty Movies (????) (France) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Justine (France) (reissue title)
Justine De Sade, Adaptation fidèle en roman-film de Claude Pierson [fr] (France) (original script title)
Justine de Sade (UK) (censored version)
The Violation of Justine (USA) (pre-release title)

Runtime:

100 min | USA:115 min (director's cut) (restored version) (DVD) | Australia:104 min

Country:

France | Italy | Canada

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | UK:18 (DVD rating) | France:-16 (original rating) | Australia:R | USA:X

Company:

Citel Films

Trivia:

Some traits of the character played by Alice Arno are inspired from Saint Therese de Lisieux, hence the name Justine/Thérèse.

Movie Connections:

Version of Cruel Passion (1977)

Much more successful than Jess Franco's Justine.

Artsleaze legend Jess Franco had previously tackled De Sade's Justine in the late 60s starring the beautiful but dull Romina Power. It was one of his less successful movies, only really worth watching to see Jack Palance ham it up outrageously as a perverted monk. This version by Claude Pierson is much better. The Franco connection continues as Alice Arno who plays Justine (a.k.a. Therese) will be familiar to anyone who has seen Franco's 'Eugenie De Sade', where she plays a photo model murdered by Paul Muller and Soledad Miranda in a memorable sequence. Arno to me doesn't look as sweet and innocent as she should to convincingly play Justine, but she has a hot body and spends most of the movie in various states of undress. Justine is a virginal character who gets passed around from one lecher to another in a series of humiliations, rapes and tortures. The movie isn't hardcore but is still surprisingly explicit and nasty, so be warned. Personally not being a sadist myself I'm baffled at De Sade's obsessions, especially his fetish with buttocks(!) but that doesn't stop this from being one of the most watchable De Sade adaptations. If you want to see what that "saucy" troublemaker in 'Quills' (an extremely dishonest movie in my opinion) was REALLY all about watch this and you might think a bit differently about him!