Eugenie is an adaptation of Philosophy in the Boudoir, a very interesting work by the 18th Century French writer The Marquis de Sade. It concerns the 'education' of the young, virginal Eugenie by several Libertine characters, and contains extensive passages and discussions of philosophy and ethics as well as some very vivid and detailed sexual experiences.
For this film, producer Harry Alan Towers (credited as Peter Welbeck) has taken the basic premise of the text and turned it into a narrative storyline. He retains the characters names although the script relegates Dolmance to a supporting role while Marie-Anne's brother (step-brother here, presumably to avoid censorship problems) becomes a more important figure. On the whole the script remains faithful to the tone of the text, even including De Sade's written introduction, while removing the lengthy and unfilmable philosophical discussions and the rather explicit sexual sequences that would have left the film an exercise in hardcore pornography - an interesting prologue with Eugenie's parents is a positive addition to the storyline, as is the clever ending. Towers adds some nice symbolism - Eugenie's doll represents her childhood and in an early sequence, she turns her back on it, rejecting it, to gaze at a photograph of Marie-Anne; while later, after her sadistic beating at the hands of Dolmance, she attempts to return to her child-hood innocence by hugging the doll, although without sucess. Unfortunately, the alterations are not all positive, the addition of a death/dumb servant is rather pointless, as is her eventual murder, while the arrival of Eugenie's mother, as present in the story, would have made a more plausible and twisted climax than the one presented; more importantly, the philosophy that turns Eugenie from saint to sinner is completely removed, making her turn to evil rather surprising. The script's pacing is deliberately languorous and dream-like - a long way from the comparatively break-neck speed of Franco's Venus in Furs (1969). Ultimately, although the script is not without problems, it is a clever updating of the De Sade work, and provides a good basis for the film.
Franco's direction lifts the film considerably - the script had the potential to produce a work that would rank as mere pornography, but the artistic presentation, of the sexual scenes in particular, prevents this. The camera views the action from behind chairs, and from a distance with frequent reaction cutaways - the hardcore 'anatomical' shots of Franco's later work are certainly not on display here, neither are his infamous 'zoom' shots - however, Franco's curious 'out of focus' look can be rather distracting at times. Bruno Nicolai provides a solid and very varied soundtrack to the film ranging from religious chanting to jovial singing, although the use of weirdly uplifting music during the sadistic whipping scenes is a little odd. The sets all look very good, as do the period costumes (possibly left over from earlier Franco/Towers/De Sade production Justine (1969)).
Eugenie is an impressive attempt to update and film de Sade's explicit work, without it becoming mere pornography - Franco describes the film as an adult fairy tale and fantasy. Tower's script is strong, although not without flaws, but Franco's direction really lifts the film, giving it a very dream-like atmosphere and artistic feel. Franco refers to Eugenie as the film of his that he hates the least, and it does rank as one of his best pictures, along with Venus in Furs (1969), at the top of his Harry Alan Towers works. Franco fans will certainly want to see this film, while newcomers to Franco, or his Harry Alan Tower's period, might be best sampling the more accessible Venus in Furs (1969) or Count Dracula (1970) first.
| Anyone famous in it? | Christopher Lee - Brit-Horror mainstay and frequent euro-cult film star, working with Franco several times. Jack Taylor - a euro-cult star who also worked with Franco and Lee in Count Dracula (1970) Maria Rohm - a top name in many of the Franco/Towers films, including 99 Women (1969) |
| Directed by anyone interesting? | Jess Franco - the biggest name in euro-cult cinema with over 180 films to his credit, everything from black and white horror The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) to DTV softcore horror Lust for Frankenstein (1998) |
| Who else was involved? | Harry Alan Towers - the British exploitation producer with whom Franco worked extensively in the 1960s. |
| Any gore? | Lots of blood and a couple of gore scenes. |
| Any sex? | Lots of topless and nude scenes, some sadean whipping and a little sex. |
| Who is it for? | A must see for Franco fans, especially of his Harry Towers period, but not the best for first time viewers. |
| Good soundtrack? | A very varied score from Bruno Nicolai ranges from religious chants to happy sing-alongs. |
| Visuals | Original
Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1 widescreen. Anamorphically enhanced. Colour. The disc decent visually, lots of grain but only a few speckles and lines, frequent lack of focus is part of Franco's direction. Note: The cheap widescreen lenses used on this film mean that the edges of the picture are slightly distorted throughout, this dates from the original print and is not a problem with the disc. |
| Audio | Original English and French audio tracks. |
| Subtitles | None |
| Run-time | Feature: 1hr 26m 33s |
| Extras | The disc includes:
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| Region | Region 0
(ALL) - NTSC |
| Other regions? | Region 2 UK release from ABUK; mostly the same, no French audio or Easter Egg. |
| Cuts? | The film is believed to be completely uncut. English language print. |
