Eugénie (1975)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Jesus Franco (writer)
Marquis de Sade (novel)

Release Date:

12 February 1975 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Eugenie, a beautiful but shy young girl, lives with her stepfather, a famous writer specializing in stories of erotica...

Plot Keywords:

Stepfather | Erotica | Erotic | Murder | Lesbianism

Cast

Soledad Miranda	...	Eugénie Radeck de Franval (as Susan Korday)
Paul Muller	...	Albert Radeck de Franval
Andrés Monales	...	Paul (as Andre Montcall)
Greta Schmidt	...	Kitty
Alice Arno	...	Photo model
Jesus Franco	...	Attila Tanner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marius Lesoeur
Karl Heinz Mannchen	...	Ceremony Master in Nightclub (uncredited)
Manuel Merino	...	Guest in Nightclub Scene (uncredited)

Directed by
Jesus Franco

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Marquis de Sade		novel "Eugenie de Franval"
Jesus Franco		writer

Produced by
Marius Lesoeur	....	producer
Karl Heinz Mannchen	....	producer

Original Music by
Bruno Nicolai

Cinematography by
Manuel Merino

Film Editing by
Clarissa Ambach

Other crew
Nicole Guettard	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Prodif Ets.

Distributors

• Transunivers Films (1975) (France) (theatrical)
• Eurociné (2003) (France) (DVD)
• Oracle Home Entertainment (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Force Video (2003) (Australia) (DVD)
• Seduction Cinema (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Eugénie de Franval (Liechtenstein)
Eugénie de Sade (France)
Eugenie Sex Happening (USA)
Eugenie de Sade (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

USA:86 min

Country:

Liechtenstein | France

Language:

French | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-18 | USA:X | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Prodif Ets.

Trivia:

Though dated 1975 in IMDb to correspond with its release year in France, this was filmed at the beginning of 1970 following the shooting of _Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht (1970)_ (cv). Confusing matters, it is unrelated to Franco's _Eugenie (1970)_ (cv), starring Marie Liljedahl, despite the commonality of titles.

Movie Connections:

References Peeping Tom (1960)

A flawed Franco film, but still worth seeing

I had very high hopes for this film since it is the only one to my knowledge to combine the interesting if erratic director Jesus Franco, the delectable Spanish-Portugese actress Soledad Miranda, and the writings of the Marquis de Sade. Franco had done other De Sade films ("Justine" and "Eugenie") and other films with Miranda ("Vampyros Lesbos", "She Killed in Ecstasy"), but this is the first (and only) time all three came together. I was kind of disappointed that this film didn't live up to my great expectations, but it certainly wasn't a bad film.

The movie opens with the best scene--a silent erotic lesbian encounter between Soledad Miranda and the equally luscious French actress Alice Arno (wearing only knee socks). This might be Franco's best lesbian scene, with the possible exception of the Maria Rohm-Rosalba Neri scene in "99 Women". It's more graphic than that one, but it avoids the gratuitous crevice-licking and the gynecological camera zooms Franco would later do in the many films with his sleazy soul-mate Lina Romay. It also ends in murder. Miranda's Eugenie (a different Eugenie from the one played by Marie Lilljal and Katya Beinert) is a girl in love with her father (Paul Muller) who happens to be a serial killer, and she willingly becomes the bait for his sex murders. The film, unfortunately, doesn't really go anywhere dramatically though. There are a couple more murders and strange side-plot where Miranda falls in love with a virginal male jazz musician. There are some beautiful but somewhat boring longeurs of characters walking through the snowy German country-side. Franco himself plays a reporter who is on the trail of the murderous pair, but he is a (mostly unintentionally) comical figure and not much of a real antagonist.

Miranda is great and very sexy as always, but she seems a little miscast. She just doesn't look very young or innocent. The scenes where her character has enthusiastic sex with her father after the murders should be very perverse, but Miranda is simply not believable as Muller's daughter (and the only really disturbing thing is seeing Muller's naked gooseflesh). This probably would have been more effective with a younger-looking or more innocent-looking actress. Still it's hard to wish away the haunting, erotic presence of Miranda. A flawed Franco film, but certainly still worth seeing.