Marquis de Sade: Justine
| Marquis de Sade: Justine | |
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Film poster for Marquis de Sade: Justine
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| Directed by | Jesús Franco |
| Produced by | Harry Alan Towers |
| Written by | Harry Alan Towers |
| Based on |
Justine ou les malheurs de la vertu by Marquis de Sade |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Bruno Nicolai |
| Cinematography | Manuel Merino |
| Edited by | Nicholas Wentworth |
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124 minutes |
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Marquis de Sade: Justine (Italian: Justine ovvero le disavventure della virtù) is a 1969 West German-Italian film directed by Jesús Franco. The film is based on Justine by the Marquis de Sade. The film is set in 1700s France where Justine (Romina Power) and her sister Juliet (Maria Rohm) are orphans in Paris. Juliet becomes a prostitute and marries a rich noble. Justine is falsely arrested and sentenced to death. Justine escapes from prison to become a fugitive.
The film had Franco's largest budget to date, of just under a million dollars. Franco originally wanted to cast Rosemary Dexter as Justine, but was forced to cast Romina Power in the role, which led to Franco changing the story to suit her.
The film is narrated by a man as he is in a prison and hallucinating images of naked, tortured women.
Justine, a sweet and virtuous girl lives with her sister Juliette in a nunnery. When they learn of their father's death, they are booted out of the nunnery with their father's remaining gold. Juliette takes Justine to a friend, Madame de Buission, who could provide accommodation for the two girls. Madame de Buission turns out to be a brothel owner and requires the girls to work as prostitutes to pay for the accommodation. Justine refuses and leaves the brothel with her gold while Juliette stays and learns the arts of a prostitute. Justine meets a priest who offers to keep her gold safe and return it at the church the next day, should she reside with Du Harpin. Du Harpin does not know the priest however, but agrees to let Justine stay for free if she agrees to serve as a maid.
Justine is spotted by Du Harpin's master, who takes interest in Justine's beauty and invites her to sleep in his quarters. He forces himself on Justine, who escapes but is instructed by Du Harpin to steal his valuable gold amulet. Justine refuses. While she is asleep, Du Harpin (who had stolen the gold amulet himself, a few minutes earlier) places the amulet in Justine´s belongings, to frame her, out of spite for her having refused to steal it for him. The next day, people summon the police, who search the area and find the amulet in Justine's belongings. Justine is taken to prison where she meets Madame Dusbois, a virago sentenced for execution the next day. Dusbois, impressed by Justine's innocent looks, implicates her in an escape plan. The next day, Dusbois' accomplices (masquerading as prison guards) start a fire in the prison and Justine screams, causing a commotion in the prison. Using the chaos as cover, Dusbois and Justine escape the prison safely.
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