THE MARQUIS DE SADE'S JUSTINE

(a.k.a. CRUEL PASSION; DE SADE'S JUSTINE; AMORI VIZI E DEPRAVAZIONI DI JUSTINE)

A convent school, where two young female students are about to learn that life is cruel.

The young Justine (Koo Stark, THE AWAKENING OF EMILY) and her sister Juliette (Lydia Lisle, THE ELEPHANT MAN) are distraught to find their recently deceased parents being laid to rest outside of the local graveyard. The priest explains that he will not bury their bodies on holy ground, as their father committed mortal sin then hung himself. A nun at the graveside offers little consolation to the girls when she suggests their folks will "burn in hellfire".

From a pretty bad beginning, things just get worse for Justine and her older sibling. They are summoned the morning after to see the pastor. He informs them that their parents' deaths has left them penniless, and that the school can not fund their stay any longer - they must leave the premises by the following morning. The Mother Superior leans over to a weeping Justine and suggests they may be able to sort something out by then.

That night, while Juliette indulges her lesbian cravings with a fellow student, Justine is accosted by the horny Mother Superior. Hearing her sister's screams, Juliette races to Justine's aide and saves her moments from rape.

Come daylight, the pair are thrown out of the school with just £40 life savings between them. Juliette's plan is to take them to London, where they will meet up with their Aunty and work in a brothel - liberating their bodies and learning the art of satisfying men in preparation for marriage.

This suits Juliette's promiscuous nature to a tee, but Justine is much more intent on maintaining her virginity and flees back to the school where the lecherous pastor (Louis Ife, ONE FOR THE POT) has said his door would always be open for her ...

Back in the small village where her troubles all began, things just get worse for Justine ...

Lush countryside photography and reserved performances keep JUSTINE from descending into the grubbiness of it's European nunsploitation counterparts. That's not to say the film doesn't provide it's fair share of gratuitous nudity, blasphemous imagery and explicit violence (the end, in particular, is unexpectedly disturbing).

But director Christopher Boger seems to be genuinely interested in the human side of the story, and also the politics of not only Christianity but of young women and their rights/desires to be liberated.

Stark is excellent in the lead role, believably vulnerable yet simmering with restrained sexuality throughout. And gorgeous in her youth too, of course.

The film's biggest pitfalls are it's languid pace, and the script - which is full of De Sade philosophies such as "modesty is the first step to corruption" and so on. It all gets a bit forced in the script department, unfortunately.

Picture-wise, JUSTINE looks fine. There's minor grain and a bit of speckling here and there, but overall images are satisfyingly bright and sharp. The back of the cover states the film is presented in 1.78:1, but the disc presents it in 1.33:1. I'm not familiar with the film's origins so can only speculate that the full-frame presentation, which doesn't appear to be compromised in it's photography, is correct.

The English mono audio track is loud, clear and consistent throughout.

JUSTINE can be accessed via 6 chapters, by way of a static scene-selection menu.

Salvation's disc is basic when it comes to extras.

Firstly, there is a stills gallery offering 24 photographs from the movie. Then we get a gallery of promo art - a whole 3 stills. Finally, we get standard trailers for Redemption best-sellers REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE and LES DEMONIAQUES.

All in all, a better-than-average entry in the short-lived British nunsploitation sub-genre. Stark is impressive in the lead role, and although the disc offers a basic presentation of the film it's good to see it uncut and readily available on DVD in the UK.

Review by Stu Willis