That was amazing! Do it again!

That was amazing! Do it again!
Hagbard

JUSTINE is going places. People are watching it and forming their opinions. Not everyone will actually tell us what they think. Most people prefer to keep that to themselves, not everyone wants to be a critic. Most people are just happy to enjoy the movie and that’s that. Maybe someone will make his or her feelings known in an email, like this one from Spain:

Thank you indeed, Amy, for your kind and fast sending of the code to download Justine, as you are so busy and working hard for all of us. Let me say that I admire very much your very good performance at every film you made. You are always improving even if that become difficult as you do better and better again. May I ask you what are you favorite performance? I bought several of your films and will continue buying the new ones. Congrats and best regards.

There is a consensus concerning Amy’s acting in this and all the other films she’s in. She is an amazing actress and she delivers. In JUSTINE Amy is just tremendous, of course.

Meanwhile, our dear friend and horror writer Dean saw JUSTINE and before writing his review, he made public his reaction:

From Jac Avila and Amy Hesketh, the creators of the extreme Inquisitional historical horror of MALEFICARUM, comes a new film based on DeSade’s famous novel, JUSTINE. Unique and challenging transformative "Sadistic Surrealism" that would have made Luis Buñuel and Salvidore Dali envious. Highly recommended!
C Dean Anderson

I’m curious to read his up and coming review.

For fans of whipping scenes still wondering about Justine: In an earlier post I mentioned that the movie opens with a public flogging of Amy. I’ll say again that it is outstanding. In addition, there is a lot of whipping in an extended dungeon scene starring Jac and the three female stars. We’ve noted Jac’s lazy limp-wristed style of whipping in earlier productions, and unfortunately it’s present again here. There is actually some great GIMPage in this scene (in particular, Amy suffering on the rack), but honestly I wish most of the mediocre whipping had been left out. It’s more distracting than anything else.
D. Santorum

I’m not into defending any of our actors and their performances, but I do make some comments. I saw JUSTINE and my personal impression is that during Jac’s scenes in the dungeon he’s clearly playing Rodin as a man who enjoys his women. He says “I torture you my creatures, when I have nothing better to do”. In other words, for fun. He doesn’t mean to punish them so severely that he’ll loose them in one session. He’s not executing them. He is playing with them in ways that might be painful, but not deadly, not like when they are whipped bloody.

But then… but then… Near the end of the movie, there is a second extended flogging scene. First Bea, followed by Mila. Their wrists are chained overhead to stone columns. The scene takes place outdoors, in the same courtyard-like area where Amy was flogged. And here Amy is locked in some stocks on one corner, forced to watch as the other two gals suffer. And so begins another intense and fucking awesome whipping scene, accompanied by music that combines a haunting drone with an Erik Satie melody – a wonderful touch that adds to the atmosphere. Yes, I would have preferred that both gals be completely nude. And it’s true that by the end of the whipping of each girl, the copious fake bloody whip marks are a bit annoying. So why is the scene so great? It’s all in the reactions of Bea and Mila while they undergo their whipping. Given that Bea is new at this sort of thing, her reactions are surprisingly wonderful and realistic. She really, really, gets into it! There are even some close-up shots of her face where there appear REAL TEARS streaming down her cheeks.
D. Santorum

When Amy received the edited version of the film for color correction, she saw the movie for the first time, all of it. When she got to the whipping scene of Bea and Mila, she was so impressed she had to send a message to Jac, who at the time was in the middle of the wild Rain Forest, shooting a documentary. She said to him: The whipping scene with Bea and Mila is awesome! I love it!. I happen to think that yes, it is “fucking awesome”.

Then it’s Mila’s turn to suffer. And my oh my, has she come a long way. In Maleficarum, I remember finding her reactions to being whipped rather unconvincing. She was too stoic at times and when she cried out, it seemed too obvious that she was making herself cry out, rather than it being an involuntary reaction to the sting of the whip. But in this scene, she really comes into her own. She squeals and screams very convincingly. And as a bonus for a particular type of viewer, she jerks against the chains overhead, making her body dance and her boobs bounce delightfully. It is incredibly erotic. I’ve watched her in this scene three times now, and I’m willing to call it one of the best whipping scene performances EVER.
D. Santorum

Mila was the last to go to the pillar that day… or I should say that week. The courtyard scenes were shot in 4 or 5 days straight. The last one to be put there was Mila. She was assisting during the previous shooting with Amy, who suffered the whip for a couple of days and she was waiting her turn during Bea’s ordeals. So, when her turn came she was ready. In her case, Jac’s instructions were very specific, she had to be different from Bea, who just performed brilliantly. So Mila did her thing and it came out great.

I wonder if the three female stars of the movie had some kind of rivalry or competition going; perhaps an unspoken on; where each was determined to rise above the other two and give the finest performance of suffering under the whip. All three work hard as hell and do a fantastic job. But as we all know, only one person can win the gold. The gold goes to Mila.
D. Santorum

I believe that both Mila and Bea take their cues from Amy, who is always the first to go through torture in Jac’s films. During Amy’s whipping scene, she would ask Jac to let her get into her situation. She would concentrate until tears were filling her eyes and then she would say: I’m ready. Jac then would say Action! and the scene would begin. When Bea’s turn came, there was a moment where Bea said to Jac to wait a bit, that’s when the shot of her close ups were going to be shot. She concentrated and then said: We have to do it now, right away. And so it was done. Those amazing close ups of Bea with real tears streaming down her face moved everyone in the set.

D Santorum Thanks for providing the analysis of the whipping scenes in Justine. I remain on the fence about this film. But I’m open to the possibility that it might be better than what is suggested in the lame-o trailer. I still don’t know that I’m convinced that it’s worth $39 and change (CAD). In my case, I’ll continue to monitor the situation as the reviews and analysis come in (and hope for improvements in the exchange rate).
A Canadian

So much monitoring is a way of not doing something. There’s nothing that anyone will say that will make someone’s doubts be erased. Doubts will always be there. I remember the same arguments being used for previous films, including Maleficarum. To clear things up a bit: JUSTINE is not a “porn” movie. There’s full nudity, partial nudity and Jac does not do nudity at all. NO MALE nudity anywhere. There’s no display of male genitalia at all. There are some weird moments that may be considered surreal, some even funny. There is some dialogue, all in English by the way, and there’s also a pirate song, and old pirate song from France. There’s interesting music, including Erik Satie. The cinematography is great, the colors are very cinematic. There are very interesting characters taken straight from De Sade’s story. Ah, yes, there’s a story, not a pretext for the torture scenes. As a movie, it is an excellent movie and some may consider it very erotic as well. It is what it is and people will love it or hate it, as always.

A Canadian: I’m glad you appreciate what I wrote regarding the whipping scenes in Justine. And I know what you mean about the movie’s trailer – it kind of disappointed me as well, and led me to think I’d be disappointed in the movie. Truth be told, I didn’t find the movie as a whole to be the major achievement that Dead But Dreaming and Olalla (or for that matter, Maleficarum) were. Nevertheless, the two major whipping scenes are two of the most powerful scenes Jac and Amy have given us to date. They are sure to become classics.
D. Santorum

Every film is its own achievement. Dead But Dreaming and Olalla are both great movies that told their stories. Maleficarum too. Some people consider Barbazul to be Amy’s best film. Sirwiñakuy had staying power on the big screen, a big accomplishment for a first time director (Amy). Le Marquis de la Croix has been getting more attention lately. And then there’s Martyr or the Death of St Eulalia, a film that was the subject of academic discussions, a thesis was written about it and a yet unpublished book, yes, actually a whole book written about Martyr. Each film is different and JUSTINE in its first few days after its release is causing a stir. For people who had some specific expectations about a film, the outcome might not meet those expectations, for people who did not, it might be different. Each film has something that makes it unforgettable. For some, the whipping scenes in JUSTINE are already a classic. For D Santorum they are the best EVER. And so it goes.