★ 5 / 10
Really liked this one!
richardtilley-76559
This is my 54th Jess Franco film and I've come to realise that his view of the world was that everyone walked around naked, shagged constantly and committed a…
This is my 54th Jess Franco film and I've come to realise that his view of the world was that everyone walked around naked, shagged constantly and committed a few murders here and there!'How to Seduce A Virgin' (aka 'Fun For Free', which is a much more palatable title) is another of Franco's takes on the Marquis de Sade, with a great cast of Alice Arno, Robert Woods, Tania Busselier, Howard Vernon and Lina Romay (who is great in this film)It's full of sex and nudity, BDSM, a torture dungeon of wax models who were once human, a hunchback gardener, a mute maid, a scheming butler, incredibly over the top 70's male fashion, a freeform jazz score played mostly on a xylophone, plenty of zoom shots which is a Franco trademark, intrigue and a twist with a sting in its tail. So, basically, it a normal day in the world of Uncle Jess.I really enjoyed it and was only let down by the, typically, bad English dub and some of the music which seemed out of place in some scenes, but then I'm not the biggest Freeform Jazz fan. The restored print I watched looked beautiful and it's all filmed in that gorgeous, dreamlike way Franco loved.I think you do really have to be in the mood to watch a Jess Franco film but when you are they are gorgeous to behold.
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One of Franco's Better Pictures
Michael_Elliott
Plaisir a trois (1973) *** (out of 4) Martine (Alice Arno) is released from a mental hospital a year after castrating a man. She returns home to her husband…
Plaisir a trois (1973) *** (out of 4) Martine (Alice Arno) is released from a mental hospital a year after castrating a man. She returns home to her husband Charles (Robert Woods) and the two immediately start plans to seduce and murder their neighbor's daughter Cecile (Tania Busselier).Also known as HOW TO SEDUCE A VIRGIN, this Jess Franco film is about as weird, perverted and twisted as you'd expect. It's loosely based off the de Sade story and it's one that the director had visited before and after. I've always been a fan of Franco's whenever he adapted this story because it usually meant the director could go full force into the perversion that the material needed.What impressed me most here were the actual performances by the entire cast. Both Arno and Woods are flawless as the evil couple and the coldness that both actors bring to their parts really helps the film. Busselier is also extremely good and believable as this virgin that the couple try to bring into their web. You've then got Lina Romay doing a very good job playing a mute, which is the type of role she was always great at. Howard Vernon and Alfred Baillou are also good in their small supporting roles.Franco made over a dozen films in 1973 so it was one of his busiest periods. The director delivers a very professional looking film and a film that certainly contains a dark sense of humor and some perverted material. This certainly ranks as one of the director's better films. It looks extremely good and Franco manages to paint a twisted tale of seduction, murder and perversion.
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