For those hording toilet paper

Venus in Furs (1969)

It all began last year here in Istanbul on the shore of the Black Sea…or at least I think it did. Because at the time I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t.

Every two years I like to re-evaluate what many consider Jess Franco’s masterpiece, Venus in Furs, and I find myself liking it more and more each time I return to it. I particularly like how he sets the movie off with the above dialogue from our jazz horn musician who found himself mixed up in a situation that would be his own undoing. By, right away, establishing that his film would not be grounded in total reality or boxed into a conventional narrative through the opening dialogue, Venus in Furs can go into surrealistic places that allow Jess to work his magic spell…that is unless you consider it just a mess. I guess it all depends on how you approach the movie. I think his fans look fondly at the period of Venus in Furs because his influences are here when he was most inspired creatively and aesthetically. Like his love for jazz and how the lead was based on a musician he knew in real life (including the musician’s inclination towards black women) front and center at the very beginning of the movie. Jazz music is also what leads our hero towards “Venus” as he was part of a band performing at the beginning (and Jess pulling a Hitchcock by including himself in the band is a nice touch that never fails to bring a grin to my face) at a bourgeoisie party. And using a dreamlike score that adds a bit of an eerie quality to the opening of the film assures that all is not what it seems and that we are watching a film where reality and unreality are skewed. I look forward to devoting some time now to Jess’ Venus in Furs and later Vampyros lesbos on the blog for the next few days. This won’t be the typical review format (I have changed my review format for a little while to mimic what I was doing around this time last year, but eventually I'll settle down into the routine later on) as I want to extend and prolong the experiences in store as long as possible so it won’t  be so much a chore as a pleasure. Hope you stick around…

She was beautiful…even though she was dead.