Diaries of nymphomaniacs

I was actually intending to write something about this topic last month (May), alas, time continues to bleed away from me - often profusely. At any rate, it turns out that a post this month regarding cinematic nymphomania might be timely after all, as Lars von Trier's Nymph(o)maniac double-shot comes out on blu-ray soon. This is not an ad for that movie, I only mention it for the timely reference. No, you'd do much better with the Mondo Macabro release of Jess Franco's take on what's pretty much the same damned story. In Franco's film, "Sinner", or, if you prefer, "Diary of a Nymphomaniac", he also explores the emotional depression of our lead charachter, our nymphomaniac, who in this case was somewhat tricked into her lifestyle at the beginning of the movie. With a lot on hand-held camerawork and fantastic locations, the movie itself is more of a cinéma vérité style, even more so than that of Vampyros Lesbos or She Killed in Ecstasy (in my recollection of those films). Also, this film, Sinner, is done with a far more sensitive approach to the characters and with a celebration of the art of film (even if unintentional) over von Trier's epic meandering of pretension and the simplistic form he (von Trier) takes in trying to reach for some sort of human understanding. Unfortunately, von Trier's attempt to explore human beings seems to come from a filmmaker who has all the initial understanding of human beings of a young child, or perhaps one going into adolescence. Upon the release of von Trier's earlier Antichrist, I'd read one review branding him and the film "misogynistic". At the time I did not agree, I was not seeing Antichrist in that light. Nor did I see his follow-up, Melancholia, in that light... But after experiencing nearly (or over?) 5 hours of Nymph(o)maniac last month at the Vancouver Film Centre, and in the wake of his (finally) complete (and self-described) "depression - trilogy", I have no choice but to see clearly what von Trier thinks of women: crazy, whiny, teasing, whores. Never mind what he thinks of men. No, he's not misogynistic, von Trier is pretty misanthropic all around. I realise some will argue the art of von Trier is in him trying to explore depression, mostly his own, through his cinematic characters. I'll go back to Jess Franco as an argument then: Diary of a Nymphomaniac. This is also a film about depression, despair, and sex addiction in a far different context than von Trier's glossy offering. Diary, or "Sinner", is a good film, even though it's still rough around the edges, like most of Franco's films. And yes, it's dark -- and in some ways it's a more serious offering than Nymph(o)maniac -- and yet through the darkness of the drama there's a charm., there's some light, creating its failure to be pretentious on the same level (scratch that, the same planet) as LvT's Nymph(o)maniac.

It was also interesting for me to discover that "Sinner" was a film shot between the muses. We'd just lost Soledad Miranda, and Jess Franco had shot Sinner after her death but before he would find his next muse, Lina Romay, which actually makes this film a little more important in the history of Franco's filmography. (This is all spoken about on the Mondo Macabro DVD). Fine actress Montserrat Prous steps into the leading role here, doing quite a good job of it. She's also worked with Franco in his films The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff and The Lustful Amazons in the early-to-mid seventies. Her female lover in "Sinner" is played by Anne Libert (probably most known for Otto, der Pflaumenpflucker), who is also very attractive and engaging in this film. So, I've tacked on a cool still from Pflaumenpflucker for your viewing pleasure, too.

Mondo Macabro released this movie on DVD a little while ago now, and as usual, the extra interviews and documents on this disc really go towards making this a whole Jess Franco experience - which is something MM has always been so good with in their releases. Thanks to them for putting this little gem out for us to see!