Wrongly entitled, The Marquis de Sade's Justine, this 1977 film is an interpretation of Sade's classic, rather than a faithful adaptation.
Following the journey of a young girl (Koo Stark), from innocence to lust, this piece of exploitation doesn't really do justice to the original work, focusing on the exploitation aspect and forgetting the suffocating psychological aspect of the novel.
Besides being a pervert, Sade always established himself as a provocative anti-establishment figure who would defy society and rigid social classes, a dimension omnipresent in Justine but nowhere to be found in this loose adaptation.
The 70's production looks outdated, emphasizing cruelty rather than sensuality, making this libertinage story a rather dull and unfunny affair.
Of course, you could argue that Justine is one these novels that can't be adapted to the screen because it's too explicit and rough, but I was thinking the same thing about Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho until I saw Mary Harron's adaptation.
Justine deserves a filmmaker with both an intellectual and erotic dimension, and a name like Walerian Borowczyk comes to mind.
