Shameless Films 5th DVD release is the little seen (nowadays anyway) Venus In Furs, not to be confused with the 1969 Jess Franco edition currently available on the redemption label. This version from director Massimo Dallamano is based more accurately upon the novel by Leopold Sacher-Masoch who's name believe it or not is where the word masochism originates from. The story here is delivered into modern times, well if you classify 1969 as modern.
Venus In Furs tells a story about fetishist Severin (Regis Vallee) a man who likes to watch people making love, and has done since being a child. While living his life in a sort of holiday camp by a beautiful lake his attention is drawn towards a young woman called Wanda (Laura Antonelli) a artists model who has decided to take vacation there. Luckily Severin is residing in the room next to Wanda and able to watch through the wall as she carries out sexual acts upon herself as well others. After a few days Severin builds up the strength to approach Wanda "I would like to go to bed with you!" he boasts, Wanda plays coy but quickly takes him up on his offer. What neither knows is they both share certain fetishes, and more importantly that Wanda was aware that Severin was watching through the wall all along. A match made in heaven Severin encourages Wanda to offer herself to others on the condition that he can watch. After a whirlwind romance, and a lot of additional partners the two marry. But like any marriage made in heaven something's got to give.
Despite its cover, and its subject matter Venus In Furs by today's standard is a pretty innocent affair. Made in 1969 but not released until 1970 the movie has an incredibly 60's feel about it. Great use of colour, swinging 60's music, and fantastic set locations that make you want to up sticks and move to a foreign climb immediately. Venus In Furs is an Italian/Swiss/German co-production tailor made for German audiences, of course it was not long before these sort of movies were appreciated outside Germany which was when the big cash came in.
I noted on the innocence and this needs to be highlighted more, this is a movie about sexual liberation, bondage, and other masochistic acts, but all the while incredibly tastefully done. While there is full nudity on the female form, there is no up close shots, the male body seemingly sacred seems more or less clothed for the films entirety (phew!). You'll see nothing here you won't in a lot of TV drama nowadays in fact. There are lots of shady slightly shrouded shots, lots of seeing things through the perspective of others eyes.
The story itself is not exactly a gripping one in honesty, you could explain the plot in a couple of short sentences, and some will argue if such a plot actually exists. But this is not the movies magic; I personally watched it for its style. If you ever knew anybody who wanted a feel for the 60's outside the UK or US then this should be the DVD to get them. Fashion plays a key part in the movie, with the character of Wanda wearing some of the most sensationally hot outfits, and I'm not talking in a state of undress. While Wanda walks around the holiday location she is fully dressed, but it's a fashion of extreme sexuality, if ever there was an example of sex inspiring clothing then this is it. From her mustard woollen dress, to her white dress and overly long cardigan a lot of work was obviously put into wardrobe here. The movies sets also seem to have been given a lot of attention, ultra-modern to some degree even by today's standards, it's great to see some ideas that never properly took off; Ikea lovers will get no end of inspiration from this movie.
Laura Antonelli is an actress whose beauty is met by very few nowadays, this is a natural beauty; she could be a Nun or a prostitute and always look on top of the world. As I rack my brains trying to think of a modern day actress that bares the same beautiful looks as Antonelli I find myself up against a brick wall, she was most definitely one in a million, better still she was a 70's soft porn style actress who actually could act. I'm teleported back to the days of 70's catalogue models where certain criteria were always met, before the days where they allowed different size models to be considered.
Regis Vallee from a male perspective has little to offer, though maybe women will find something about him. His acting is fairly animated, but the look each time he gets a whipping or a slap is one difficult to forget. For a dubbed actor he does not have the wooden appearance often generated during these sorts of films.
Bondage plays a strong part of the movie, and what is interesting is that although delivered bountifully throughout the movie it is very clear that this was a slightly taboo subject. You never see the person delivering the beating, and the impact in the same shot. In one scene Severin is laid on the floor with Wanda behind a wall, the only part you can see of Wanda is her arm swinging a riding crop down on what you assume to be Severin's back, however you don't know because you can't see Severin at all. It's actually quite a hysterical thing to see this arm swaying around hitting what in reality would be nothing.
There is some real sex involved in the movie, but this is between a pair of horses; but this comes with an education as to who horses are bred in order to get the best performance from the foal.
About The DVD
Shameless again blow the viewer away with a striking cover. Again in Yellow to represent Giallo roots to the range, and with a hint of old VHS and Betamax company the VTC about the cover to make you feel like your buying a product from the 80's. There is lots of information on the cover about the movie as well as some of the cast and crew previous works. The correct running time of 82 minutes and 3 seconds is displayed and the movie is delivered in widescreen format. Sadly the movie is in a cut form, but Shameless Films don't try to hide this on the back it clearly states "Trimmed by the BBFC". What does surprise me however is that Shameless do not seem to have re-presented the work to the BBFC, in fact it was last presented in 1993, unless of course an omission to the website has been forgotten. I have not seen a fully uncut version, but suspect from what I have seen in this DVD there to be little to offend. The cuts are obviously very subtle as I cannot see where they might come from, some edited movies are very obviously and often badly cut.
The picture quality and sound are just sublime, although there is no stereo sound (not to be expected really) the sound is very crisp and clear. A quick adjustment of my cinema sound system and it sounds pretty good. But it's print of the film and in particular the colours that stand out. The use of colour in the 60's was so much more obvious then than it is now, a new invention to many movies the 60's were an experimental decade with colour; this is lovingly restored and obvious here.
There are no special features on the DVD, however there are a total of seven trailers, Flavia The Heretic (a trailer I had never seen before), Ratman, The Black Cat, The Frightened Woman (this looks amazingly 60's cant wait), Night Train Murders, and Killer Nun. The seventh trailer is for the movie Venus In Furs and its wonderfully clear.
Venus In Furs is available in HMV stores priced £12.99, or available online from play.com for £9.99.
If you have a passion for horror or exploitation films then why not take a look at Shameless Films other offerings, this is a small company based in the UK that need fans of these movies backing. Many similar companies such as Vipco have stopped producing movies, Shameless need buyers backing otherwise this may be the last time gems widely enjoyed overseas will be available in the UK.
Spencer Hawken 02/08
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Soundtrack
Good
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Good
Value for Money
Good
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DVD
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