Mystique (1979)

Director:

Roberta Findlay

Writer:

Roger Watkins (writer)

Release Date:

26 September 1981 (Japan)

Genre:

Adult

Tagline:

When Fantasy Becomes a Reality

Plot Keywords:

Stranger | Beach House | Photography | Lesbian Sex | Rape

Cast

Georgina Spelvin	...	Alma
Samantha Fox	...	Cosima
Jake Teague	...	The Doctor
Randy West	...	Arthur
Merle Michaels	...	Marie
Vaughn Mitchell	...	Max
Erica Richardson	...	Elizabeth
Helen Madigan	...	Pianist
Patty Weston	...	Greek Model
Ron Jeremy	...	Harry
Yolanda Bonnea	...	Lotte
Dave Ruby	...	Greek Model (as David Ruby)
Ken Dahl	...	Violinist (as Ken Dahl and Ken Draper)
Bobby Kasby	...	Greek Model (also as Bobby Kassner)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | USA:X

Filming Locations:

Fire Island, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Sendy Film Corporation

Soundtrack:

Songs on the Death of Children

Only a Blowtorch Could Erase This Movie from Memory

This hardcore porno movie is unlike any other you'll ever see. Credited to one "Robert A. Norman" (actually Roberta Findlay, yes, a REAL woman), it is often intentionally anti-erotic and, I admit, quite pretentious at times.

Georgina MISS JONES Spelvin delivers a tour de force performance as Alma, an erotic photographer retreating from life in her house by the sea when she's diagnosed as having a terminal illness, haunted by reveries from photo shoots past. One day she meets a mystery woman (who may only exist in her imagination) named Cosima (Samantha Fox) - that makes two female characters named after Wagner opera heroines in a single porn film, ouch (courtesy of screenplay by Roger Watkins a/k/a "Richard Mahler") - wandering along her private stretch of beach. The women begin a tempestuous lesbian affair but it soon becomes clear that the scheming, manipulative Cosima has rather more on her mind than Sapphic splendor with lonely, pathetic Alma. She pushes the older woman into a series of not entirely voluntary sexual experiences, at times bordering on rape, gaining power over the passive Alma by threatening to leave if she doesn't comply.

Some viewers may not like the things Findlay's trying to say in this film about the nature of loneliness and the complexities of erotic desire, but it's a sure thing they'll never forget this intricately constructed, astonishingly photographed piece of erotica. It is dangerous, disquieting and - a rarity within the limitations of the genre - as unique a vision as you're likely to come across in porno.