University of Virginia Library

'Libertine': Sexploitation
Of No Redeeming Value

By Carl Erickson
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

"The Libertine" attempts to be a
serio-comic psychological study of
a young woman's experimentation
with so-called seal perversions.
Unfortunately, lack of imagination
has compelled the director to use
extensive shots of female nudity in
an attempt to arouse audience
interest. Consequently, the film
becomes merely sexploitational, to
borrow a term from "Variety." I
say unfortunately because the
original idea is an interesting one.

Catherine Spaack portrays the
curious Mimi who seduces any
willing male. Her obsession with
sexual abnormality, occurs when she
discovers that her recently expired
husband had leased a lavish
apartment, in which he conducted
various perverted activities with
available women. Mimi stumbles
upon stag films starring her
husband, which further arouse her
curiosity. She decides to find out
just how much she can enjoy the
delights of sadomasochism.

Miss Spaack
shows discrimination in her
choice of sexual partners. Dentists,
lawyers all participate. Her
sexual activity is photographed in
detail. Pubic areas, breasts,
butt are all given adequate
attention. Voyeuristically speaking,
"The Libertine" ranks near the top
only outdone by the Forty-Second
Street variety.

The comic aspects of Mimi's
escapades are poorly directed
disasters. Total lack of originality
and timing destroy all of the
potentially humorous scenes. It is
almost as if the director is in a rush
to get back to the nitty gritty of
the detailed sex scenes.

The serious aspects of the topic
are invisible as a result of
passionless acting and ridiculous
dialogue (mainly in the form of
Miss Spaak's verbalized
ponderings).

Mimi's ultimate rejection of
sexual aberrations is realized not
through character and
environmental motivation but
rather through inept direction due
to narrow mindedness. Her
experimentation is never treated
seriously by the director so what
other choice can she make? The
pseudo humorous aspect in which
the topic is viewed and the
dismissal of any psychological
causal relationships produce a
totally useless film of no
significance.

It is interesting to ponder how a
director such as Bunuel would have
treated the subject. "Belle de
Jour," a masterpiece of
reality-unreality, used much the
same topic. Bunuel here
successfully integrated the story of
a married woman's entrance into a
brothel (imagined or real?) into his
own psychological viewpoint. In
"The Strange Passion," Bunuel uses
psychological abnormality in a
wildly humorous manner and still
manages to treat the subject
seriously. But to say that Bunuel
would have done a better job with
"The Libertine" is, because of its
obviousness, absurd and useless.
Such hypothetical thoughts are the
result of frustration and "The
Libertine" is a frustratingly poor
film.

(Now at the Cinema)