Girls Without Shame — Girls Without Shame( Blu Ray/ UHD)
As part of Powerhouse's series of reissues of Jean Rollin's filmography, here’s one of the French director's lesser-known/lesser-seen pictures, Girls Without Shame. This early 70s film was released under the pseudonym Michel Gentil- it was the director's first foray into softcore, which he blended with elements of low-key crime thriller, roughie, and comedy, and a slightly off-kilter fairy tale air. So it’s certainly a curio from Rollin, who up until its release was largely known for his arty & surreal Vampire films. The release comes as either a UHD or Blu-ray, and takes in three versions of the film- all with a new 4k scan, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Girls Without Shame ( aka Jeunes filles impudiques, Schoolgirl Hitchhikers, High School Hitch Hikers) is from the year 1973. It was the first of his adult films- be they soft or hardcore, between the 70s and 80’s he helmed nineteen other sex films, taking in the likes of Hard Penetration (1977), Disco Sex (1978), and Sodomanie (1984)
The film has a fairly short runtime of one hour and nineteen minutes. Things kick off with purple and silhouetted drawn credits showing two women in different poses/intertwinements. And we open up to see our early 20s two leads, brunette Monica( Joëlle Coeu) and blonde Jackie (Gilda Arancio) walking on a woodland pathway with rucksacks on their backs- we then get a female voice over detailing the pair's travelling and camping.
Fairly soon, they come across a large wall in the woods- clambering over it, they find a seemingly abandoned, but decidedly arty looking house, which has mirrors on its outside, and inside variably wallpapered walls & quirky set dressings. The power is on in the house, and by luck/ chance they find a clean, made-up bed- so the pair strip off, and we get a fairly predictable/ bland female-on-female softcore encounter.
Waking up the next morning, they become aware that they are not alone in the house- downstairs is droopy moustached and shifty-eyed Fred(Willy Braque), a robber who is hiding out in the house, waiting for his accomplices to turn up. With more fleshy encounters happening soon.
It’s fair to say that all the softcore stuff here is fairly run-of-the-mill/ bland, with the other elements being the more engaging/interesting. Firstly, there is the house itself, and it’s nearby/ in the grounds red and yellow stained glass summer house. Moving on to the quirky plotted crime elements regarding missing diamonds, and a selection of slightly off-kilter characters- like a cold-eyed/ mysterious female criminal boss Béatrice(Marie Hélène Règne), called in from the nearby town PI, and his dressed in red child-like lederhosen female sidekick.
Also, later in the film, we get some quite nasty/ tonal different sexualised torture- most notable of these scenes is when one of our two forest wanderers is tied up, topless and whipped, with (seemingly) real whip scars left.
Another off-kilter/ at points weird element is the soundtrack, which often rapidly shifts between mellow acoustic guitar and flute workouts, playful/ comic horn music, and more sleazy-to-moody jazz.
Through and Through Girls Without Shame is a true 70’s curio- in both Rollin’s filmography, and general softcore fare of the decade- as it’s just a weird/ at points tonally unbalancing affair. Yes, the sexy stuff is not great/ uninspired- but that can be said for a lot of adult films. There's no doubt there is a real feeling of artistic flair & trying to do something different with Girls With No Shame.
The new release features a new 4k scan- this is nice and clean, with well-defined colours, and general great clarity. The disc takes in three versions of the film: Jean Rollin’s original French-language version, Jeunes filles impudiques; and alternative English-language presentations, Girls Without Shame and Schoolgirl Hitchhikers- each of these has a runtime of one hour and nineteen minutes.
On the new extras side, we get three things. First is the commentary from genre expert/ author David Flint. He starts off commenting on the film's credits, which he talks about setting up expectations for the audience. Moving on to discuss the opening cue and its swinging easy listening vibe, we find out that the soundtrack was scored by Pierre Raph, who was behind a few other Rollin scores such as The Iron Rose (1973), and The Demoniacs (1974). He talks about the film’s mis-leading English title Schoolgirl Hitchhikers- as there are no schoolgirls, and no one is hitchhiking- this leads on to him discuss the grubby fascinations in 70’s/ 80’s porn with regarding school girls and virgins, and how this now seems extremely dodgy. He talks about the Rollin stylistic touches found throughout the film. He discusses the stiltedness of the film's sex scenes, and how softcore often looks awkward. He talks about how the opening scenes could be from a horror film, save for the voiceover, which he suggests were added in later. He discusses how there is a playfulness about the films and actors. Later on, he points out the film's great visual moments and great acting moments. He talks about how erotic films are often downplayed, as having no artistic quality/ worth, and how unfair this is. He gives bios of a few of the films' female actresses, and more. This isn’t a bad track- with interest & worth, though at points you do get the feeling he’s run out of things to say.
The other two new extras are Territoire mental (24.40) which finds journalist and musician Nicolas Stanzick giving his thoughts on the film- this is in French with English subtitles. Les Quatre années de cinéma de Joëlle Cœur(29.11) here actor, director and film historian Christophe Bier talks about the career of actress Joëlle Coeu- this is presented in a decidedly quirky, at points theatrical manner.
On the archive side, we have Sexana (16.34) this is a short film from 1974, featuring Joëlle Coeu. This is a darkly surreal erotic film- regarding a young woman(Coeu) being kidnapped from a forest glade by a gang of motorcycle helmet & goggles wearing women, to be taken to a underground cave network- where she is stripped, has weird rituals carried out on her, and is whipped/ totured. It’s a rather eerie/ strange short. You can either watch it with no soundtrack, with a new score by experimental instrumental group Peninsula, or with a commentary track from Nicolas Stanzick. There’s an original trailer and a gallery for Sexana.
The finished release comes with an eighty page booklet- a new essay by Lucas Balbo, material from the film’s pressbook, an archival article on the French sex-film industry featuring an interview with ‘Michel Gentil’ (Jean Rollin), an archival interview with Willy Braque, new writing on Sexana, and full film credits.
As a long-term fan of Rollin’s work, it truly was fascinating to finally see Girls Without Shame, as it's both a transition film for the director, and a true curio too. This new Powerhouse release serves up a clean and crisp 4k print and a selection of informative/ interesting extras.