The Last Romantic Lover — The Last Romantic Lover (Blu Ray)

From the early 1970s, The Last Romantic Lover is a decidedly un-fleshy, straight, and often rather charming romantic drama by French director Just Jaeckin- whose more known for mainstream erotic films like Emmanuelle and Story of O. The film revolves around the cynical editor of a women's magazine, who organisers a competition in Paris to find the perfect romantic man. From Cult Epics, here is a Blu Ray release of the film- taking in a commentary track, and a few other extras.
 

The Last Romantic Lover (aka Le dernier amant romantique) was released in the year 1978.  It was the fourth feature-length film from Just Jaeckin- who in total had six films to his name. And these include (aside from the already mentioned films) erotic thriller Madame Claude (1977), school girl drama Girls (1980), the light softcore romantic drama Lady Chatterley's Lover(1981), and erotic action adventure film Gwendoline(1984).
 
For a romantic drama, the film opens in a fairly surprising and artily moody manner- as we see a dead lion being nailed into a huge coffin surrounded by circus players- as a plane flies above dropping bright leaflets on the screen. Then the group march in a funeral procession along a dusk-set landscape with flaming torches.  

We find out that the Circus is in dire financial trouble, and Max (Fernando Rey) the ageing and goatee bearded circus owner is rather distressed. The plane that flew over the funereal was dropping flyers regarding a competition in Paris called The Last Romantic Lover- which is to find the most romantic man in the country.  The winner will be rewarded with a large cash prize, and ten days away with a partner of their choice. Max tries to convince the decidedly moody and moustached lion tamer Pierre (Gérard Ismaël) to enter, but he keeps refusing saying the idea of almost prostituting himself appals him. But Max, and the rest of the Circus keep pushing- so, in the end, he gives in, and enters.

Meanwhile in Paris cynical and icy woman’s magazine editor Elisabeth(Dayle Haddon) is publicizing and getting ready for the competition. With a selection of men gathering from around the country. Pierre and Max make their way to the city in one of the circus clown cars- both nervous if Pierre will be selected for the final stage, which will find the men going through several rounds to prove their romantic flare. 

Pierre goes through to the main competition with ten or so other men- with the competitors having to do things like sing, dance, kiss, pose as Greek gods, and wine ‘n’ dine. The competition takes up the first half or so of the film, and is great campy fun- which even has its own disco theme tune. One thing leads to another, and Pierre wins the concession prize- which is going on a ten-day holiday with a partner of his choice- so he decides to take the very surprised Elisabeth, with the holiday taking place back at the circus grounds. And this takes up the second half of the film.
 
The whole film is very nicely captured and largely well-acted. Moving from the moodily arty start, onto the camp/ OTT competition, through to they will/ they won’t they get on with each other final half of the film.  It runs for one hour and forty-four minutes, and for the most part, remains entertaining and engaging- with on the whole The Last Romantic Lover been a rather original and well-made 70’s romantic drama.
 

 

Moving onto this region free Blu Ray, and we get a 4k scan of the film- which is both bold and crisp in its late 1970s colours. We get a commentary track from Jeremy Richey-who wrote Sylvia Kristel: from Emmanuelle to Chabrol. He opens by discussing why the film was a marked and deliberate change in Jaeckin's filmography. He talks about the director's collaboration with screenwriter Ennio De Concini on the film, moving on to comment on the fire-breathing credits. He gives bios of both Spanish actor Fernando Rey, who is one of the more responsible actors in the film, and lead Ismaël.  He talks about the film's themes, and how it reverses the objectiveness towards women. We get a bio of the director, who started off his career as a fashion photographer. He discusses returning collaborations on this film. Later on, he discusses press reviews of the time, and how the film uses romantic comedy tropes, as well as a potted history of the genre. The feminist undercurrents in all the director's films, and much more. On the whole, it’s an informative and interesting track. 
Otherwise, on the extras side we get two on-camera interviews, one with director Just Jaeckin (18.01) and one with lead actress Dayle Haddon (22.24). We get footage of the showing of the film in 2022, which the director attended (13.02). image gallery, and Cult Epics Trailers.

 

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by The Last Romantic Lover, as it is one of the more memorable and distinctive romantic dramas of the 70s- with great visual flare and consistent acting throughout. With a nice new scan of the film, and a decent selection of extras on this Cult Epic release.