How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Jess Franco films are not for everyone. The man had directed over 200 films in his career and in the years of 1973-1974 and also 1983, he had directed over 12 films in those years alone. Most of his films were of the erotic nature but he also dipped into the action and horror genre several times. He even directed films under various pseudonyms. Because of his lengthy directing credits, not all of his films were, well…good. Some were cheap and in his later years most were shot on video. However one of his better films was How to Seduce a Virgin which is now seeing the light of day thanks to Mondo Macabro’s excellent DVD.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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This French erotica which was based loosely on the novel by Marquis de Sade, begins with the beautiful Martine (Alice Arno) just getting released from an asylum after spending a year incarcerated for cutting off the penis of one of her ex-lovers. As she goes back to her rich lifestyle and enormous mansion, she is greeted by her servants, one being the space cadet mute Adele (Lina Romay who later became Mrs. Franco). Her husband Charles also greets her with a surprise: he has found their next victim. It seems that Charles and Martine are twisted lovers who kidnap and seduce their victims which are then turned into sex slaves that are kept in their basement.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Charles tells Martine of Cecile (Tania Busselier), a 21 year old virgin whose parents are rich political figures. When the couple watch Cecile masturbate in her room one night with the use of binoculars, the two get turned on and have sex while Adele rubs Martine’s nude fanny. Once this scene happens, one knows if he/she will enjoy How to Seduce a Virgin or at least want to continue watching.

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When Cecile’s parents tell Charles and Martine one day that they are going away and that young Cecile doesn’t want to join them, Charles jumps in and offers to take in the young girl into their home. When the parents agree, the plan is set for Charles and Martine to corrupt and destroy this beauty.

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As Cecile stays with them, Martine tries hard to seduce Cecile by joining her in the bathtub and convincing Adele to have sex with Cecile which she quickly agrees to do. It seems that the innocent young girl isn’t so innocent after all. When the couple have a drunken sex party, all bets are off and the tables are quickly turned on this couple. In one strange sequence, Martine does a strip tease with a mannequin that looks just like Karen Black! It’s scenes like this that make How to Seduce a Virgin amusing and at times rather funny. Running at just 87 minutes, I actually wanted to see more and was disappointed when the film ended.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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How to Seduce a Virgin is a rather graphic soft core film. One can expect plenty of graphic language, full frontal nudity, torture, masturbation, lesbianism and voyeurism. Not for the faint of heart nor is it for those who dislike pubic hair. There is so much wool one can knit a scarf. I was dumbstruck at Tania Busselier’s 70′s bush. It was almost scary looking. And her sex scene with Charles is rather graphic as one gets to see his marble bag pop out from beneath that dark triangle several times. And Franco just loves to zoom in on private parts whenever he gets a chance. He’s like a child who just saw boobs for the first time while zooming in on the goods. I’m not complaining, it’s just funny to me.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Mondo Macabro’s DVD looks great. While the image at times seems to flutter once in awhile, the picture is very clear with an almost blu ray quality. I am also glad to see a Franco film properly subtitled and not dubbed. Included on the DVD is an interview with writer Alain Petit who talks about Franco’s obsession with the Marquis de Sade and an interview with critic Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA about Franco’s career.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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For fans of Franco or erotica in general, How to Seduce a Virgin is not to be missed. While it is strange, bizarre and cryptic, it is still one of the director’s better films and can be enjoyed by those with an open mind…or crotch.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Also known as Plaisir A Trois, Jess Franco’s 1973 picture How To Seduce A Virgin tells a fairly simple story. When the movie begins, a beautiful woman named Martine de Bressac (Alice Arno) is released from a mental hospital. We’re never told exactly what she did to earn her place there but the flashback scene in which she castrates a man that she was making love to tells us all that we need to know. Martine is not okay. Oh she looks great, there’s no doubt about that, but something is off upstairs. She’s driven back to her palatial estate by her servant, Mathias (Howard Vernon), and is seemingly quite relieved to reunite with her lover, Charles Bressac (Robert Woods). He seems equally impressed that she’s back in his arms and everything seems to be peachy. Even their mute servant, Adele (Lina Romay), is overjoyed that everyone is back where they should be.

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One night while looking out their window, Charles and Martine spy on a young woman across the way who masturbates completely unaware that she’s being watched. This turns them both on, and Adele even gets in on the action. When Charles and Martine are able to meet her parents, who are soon to travel abroad and need a place for their daughter to stay, well… it doesn’t take long before this lovely piece of jailbait named Cecile (Tania Busselier) is staying at their place, her innocence soon to be lost. Martine goes first, she tries to talk her into an encounter in the bath tub, but it’s Adele who make the first score and gets her into bed. Eventually Charles plans a party where all of the women wind up indulging his fantasies, but by the time that party is over, it becomes quite obvious who is playing who.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Putting sex before plot and willfully playing up the more erotic side of the story than any other aspect, How To Seduce A Virgin isn’t the most thought provoking Franco picture that you’re ever likely to see but it’s good at what it sets out to do and it's a great example of the director's 'film as jazz' motif. There are long sex scenes here, a great strip tease towards the end bathed in red light courtesy of Ms. Arno and it all feels very free form. Shot in the same house that served as the primary location for Countess Perverse and using more or less the same cast, it doesn’t do a whole lot in the way of character development but it does set up a pretty effective tone of depravity and unbridled lust. From the first time that Martine lays eyes on Cecile it’s obvious she’s got a thing for her and wants her to be her plaything. When it turns out that Adele gets first crack, that’s an interesting plot twist and when you throw in the presence of a strange dwarf gardener, things can only get weirder. So yeah, story? Not so much, but weird Franco jazz sex? Lots of that, so dig in.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Lina’s more or less confined to a supporting role here but she does what she does here with crazed sex fiend precision. When it’s time for her to get it on, she’s ready, willing and able and those insanely lustful eyes of hers are wide open and hungry and it's startling enticing to see her get all freaky with a mannequin. Alice Arno steals the show, however. It’s great to see Howard Vernon pop up here and both Robert Woods and a not-at-all-teenage looking Tania Busselier are both fine in their respective parts but Alice Arno smolders in the lead. She’s bold, brash and beautiful and she has not problem whatsoever letting the camera leer.

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Ultimately this is more a movie about sex than about anything else, but don’t let that dissuade you. Franco captures all of this in his own crazy and obsessive sort of way, using strange angles and a fantastic soundtrack enhances the mood of flat out debauchery. The movie is well shot and it never overstays its welcome. Despite the fact that the story is minimal the movie goes at a good pace and yeah, if you enjoy Franco shooting lovely ladies involved in various dirty deeds done dirt cheap, and really who doesn’t, this'll work just fine. The cast are all in great form, the movie is as bonkers as it is pants tighteningly hot and the look and sound of the movie is fantastic.

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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How To Seduce A Virgin is pretty great stuff even if a lot of times it feels like an exercise in style over substance. Will it convince those not already indoctrinated into the cult of Franco? No, probably not, but if you’re a fan you’ve figured out before getting to this point in the review that you need this. Mondo Macabro’s DVD presentation is a very nice one, there are some solid extras and the A/V quality is excellent. A must own for Franco-philes.

Rock! Shock! Pop!

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How to Seduce a Virgin (1974) Plaisir à trois [Mondo Macabro]

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Special Features:
- Brand new transfer from film negative
- Interview with writer Alain Petit
- Introduction by critic Stephen Thrower
- Newly created optional subtitles
- Extensive production notes
- Mondo Macabro previews