Venus in Furs (1969)

I love this movie so much

Thanks for the memories!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

If the above summary doesn't make any sense (which it won't unless you've seen "A Fish Called Wanda"), then it's perfectly appropriate for "Venus In Furs". This film confirms Jess Franco's chronic inability (or maybe unwillingness, but I'm betting more on inability) to tell a logical story, and to tie his weird ideas (some of which might have been effective under different circumstances) into a coherent whole. Of course he also has an unerring eye for female beauty, and "Venus In Furs" scores high in that department with Barbara McNair, Maria Rohn and Margaret Lee; however, the long-awaited lesbian scene between the latter two is brief and disappointingly shot in blurry soft-focus. The acting is better than usual for a Franco film, and at times he does get the dreamlike atmosphere he wants right, but at other times the film can get quite boring. As the lead himself admits, "the pieces don't add up". ** out of 4.

In Istanbul, the trumpet player Jimmy Logan (James Darren) is dazed and confused on the beach and finds his musical instrument buried in the sand. Then he sees a woman in the sea and he pulls her body from the surf. He recognizes her as Wanda Reed (Maria Rohm), a gorgeous woman that he saw in the party of the playboy Ahmed Kortobawi (Klaus Kinski). Then he saw her being whipped and raped by Ahmed and his friends Percival Kapp (Dennis Price) and Olga (Margaret Lee).Jimmy travels to Rio de Janeiro and spends the Carnival playing with a jazz band and his girlfriend Rita (Barbara McNair) in the nightclub of Herman. One night, Wanda Reed comes to the club and Jimmy becomes obsessed on her. Sooner he leaves Rita and stays with Wanda. Meanwhile, she kills Percival, Olga and Ahmed dressed in furs. When the police seek out the woman, Jimmy discovers a secret about Wanda Reed and him."Venus in Furs" is a surrealistic film by Jess Franco with James Darren (from The Time Tunnel) and his muse Maria Rohm in the lead roles and Klaus Kinski in a minor role. James Darren's narrative is boring and the annoying music may please jazz fans only. A jazz band playing in a club in the Carnival of Rio is a joke from someone that does not even know the Carnival in Rio. The resolution of the plot is actually a senseless mess but the atmosphere is intriguing. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Venus in Furs"

Having been previously disappointed by both "Succubus" and "The Virgin Among the Living Dead", "Venus in Furs" came as a pleasant surprise, and establishes the director, at least in my book, as a truly visionary auteur. As seen in "Succubs", Franco relies mostly on imagery, symbolism and music to it's seemingly plot less story. These elements are, however, essential for a film such as this, where "style" becomes "substance", which consists basically on creating a visual representation of a musician's nightmarish fantasies, much like in Dario Argento's "Deep Red". That being said, the film's style doesn't really owe a lot to Argento, but rather to another important Italian director - Federico Fellini. Franco's attempt to enter an artist's subconscious during a personal crisis, is hardly any different to that of Marcello Mastroianni in "8 1/2", only with a considerable amount of horrific elements and sleaze added into the mix. As I've said before, music is one of the key element to "Venus in Furs", as it enhances it symbolizes the world the protagonist has submerged into. Accompained by a unique visual style which recalls both the works of German expressionism and 60's psychedelia, music replaces it's few but surprisingly poorly written dialog (which is almost entirely a voice-over monologue by lead actor James Darren), in symbolizing character's emotions and situations they find themselves in. Though the 'written words' are secondary in Franco's world, and this one in particular, the characters are very well written and surprisingly likable. James Darren is as confused as the audience in his Chet Baker-inspired role, and perfectly conveys the feeling of being a strange in his own universe. Klaus Kinski is a memorable villain as always, and almost reminiscent to his performance as Count Dracula in Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu, the Vampyr". Maria Rohm is a fine replacement to Soledad Miranda, and her performance of a speechless, gorgeous but vengeful 'evil spirit' is as unforgettable as her Spanish counterpart. Yet it is Margaret Lee who really outdoes Rohm as the other important female figure in the picture, as a very pitiable, lonely and equally beautiful antagonist. Last but not least, Barbara McNair is lovingly charismatic as the a-little-too-friendly Rita, whose small role might be important than it seems. Nevertheless, the performances have been criticized for being a bit dull, but I think it makes the film's bizarre, trippy universe even weirder, as well as giving some interesting hints as to understanding it's purposely ambiguous finale. For all it's cons, that are easily forgiven by it's pros, the film is a 8/10 near-masterpiece.

then I'll never watch another franco movie. I was excited to see this by the reputation and the American title (shades of Leopold von Sacher Masoch)and all I saw was fifteen minutes of good film (the first 15) and then a bunch of stock footage,nonsensical dialogue, and BS plot development. I needed more dungeon scenes or more masochism, and less stock-footage/VO mental masturbation. I was sorely disappointed. Some might say "You should see it stoned", well, I did, and that didn't improve things. Someone compared this to "Lost Highway", and to them I can only spit derisively. I'd rather watch a Dolph Lundgren movie. How that guy still has a career is more honestly surreal than this stuff.