Die Karriere der Francis B. (1984)

Die Karriere der Francis B.: Directed by Gérard Kikoïne. With Christopher Pearson, Jennifer Inch, Sophie Favier, Alain Dumaurier. Tale of erotic romance in turn of the century England.

“The softcore sex film basically began in 1974 with Just Jaeckinu0026#39;s u0026quot;Emmanuelleu0026quot; and was intended to be a u0026quot;classieru0026quot; alternative to the hardcore XXX porn initiated by u0026quot;Deep Throatu0026quot; and its ilk (as opposed to the u0026quot;sexploitationu0026quot; film which are sex films that existed BEFORE hardcore porn was really legal). The original, mostly European softcore films of the 70u0026#39;s are often quite interesting, although itu0026#39;s questionable how u0026quot;classyu0026quot; some of them are (thatu0026#39;s definitely not a word that applies to Joe Du0026#39;Amatou0026#39;s appalling u0026quot;Emanuelle in Americau0026quot; or even the big-budget but tasteless film u0026quot;Caligulau0026quot;). Like the sexploitation films before them, a number of softcore sex films were loosely based on erotic novels (some call them u0026quot;one-handed novelsu0026quot;) from the Victorian Era, a famously sexually repressive era that not surprisingly produced a whole lot of smut, but also ironically provided a veneer of u0026quot;respectabilityu0026quot; for a whole lot of later sex films.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis gender-bender softcore effort is based on the Victorian novel u0026quot;Frank and Iu0026quot; about a nobleman who meets an orphaned schoolboy on the road and, for some reason, decides to u0026quot;adoptu0026quot; him and bring him up properly. But while administering a bare-ass whipping, he discovers a secret, which pretty much any viewer of this movie would have figured out a half hour earlier (trust me, this is NOT a spoiler). u0026quot;Franku0026quot; is actually u0026quot;Francesu0026quot; and is played by Jennifer Inch, an elfin but relatively busty Canadian actress. After this discovery the movie is just a typical sex romp involving the nobleman, u0026quot;Francesu0026quot;, and his alluring mistress (played by French actress Sophie Favier).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie came out in the early 80u0026#39;s era along with such films as u0026quot;Joyu0026quot;, u0026quot;Christinau0026quot;, and u0026quot;Fanny Hillu0026quot;. Like a couple of those films it was written and produced by the notorious Harry Alan Towers. The 80u0026#39;s softcore films are generally less interesting than the 70u0026#39;s ones (but far, far more interesting than the worthless masturbation fodder they make today). Iu0026#39;d give this one points just for being warped, but really it plays things pretty safe, truth be told. The Italian film u0026quot;The Seduction of Angelau0026quot; used this same plot, but had the nobleman find out the secret when he tries to bugger the good-looking u0026quot;boyu0026quot; (although the actress in that looked a lot more like Sophia Loren than any u0026quot;boyu0026quot;). Intentionally or not, this movie retains some Victorian-era hypocrisy by making a potential gay pederast into a typical hetero stud. There are definitely some mixed messages here. . .”