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Mar 08, 2022 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

Teenage Bilitis (Patti D’Arbanville) spends a summer away from her all-girls boarding school staying at a posh home in Saint-Tropez. Her idle afternoons are spent flirting with a local boy who works on the beach, and seeking attention from the older woman, Melissa, who’s taken her in—a family friend whom she had barely known until this point. Melissa’s marriage is obviously an unhappy one, and Bilitis forms an infatuation with her; one that’s confusingly reciprocated for a stolen moment while the husband is away. As Bilitis tries to navigate her burgeoning feelings of love and desire, she’s faced with hard truths that force her to accept that the things she wants she may not be ready for yet.

Taking its inspiration from a book of Pierre Louÿs poetry, Bilitis (1977) is softcore erotica in the frame of a coming-of-age story. There’s not much in the way of plot, and what’s there mostly serves to set up the film’s abundant nudity. While sex itself is surprisingly sparse—Bilitis does some heavy-petting with her hostess, canoodles with a roommate, and eavesdrops on the couple who took her in—so many of the moments in-between are filled with characters dressing and undressing, skinny-dipping, or dreaming about climbing a tree in the nude. Even when nudity would seem least appropriate—say, during the boarding school’s talent show, put on for their parents—they somehow found the most diaphanous material available from which to make their completely see-through costumes.

The lengths to which Bilitis goes to show its characters naked is absurd in a typically porn-y fashion, but there is an elegance to the way all of it is presented, with most of these scenes shot to look like we’re viewing them through a smudged window on a sunny, summer afternoon. Bilitis features some strikingly gorgeous camera work and lighting, beautiful backdrops, and a dreamy score courtesy of composer Francis Lai. Whether that’s enough to make it feel like something more than extremely lavish sleaze, however, will likely come down to the individual viewer.

Prior to this film, director David Hamilton was already a sensation for his work as a photographer—his trademark, soft-focus style created hazy photos that appeared as if they were shot through steamed glass, with subjects bathed in natural-looking light, and was highly influential on both ‘70s fashion photography and cinema. He earned a nearly equal degree of notoriety for his controversial subject matter: his models were typically very young girls in the nude. Hamilton’s suicide several years ago at the age of 83 came amid allegations of statutory rape, and proceeded to cast an even darker pall over his work in general. Still, it’s hard to deny his influence—you can find it in everything from Vogue pictorials to music videos to the dreamy, gossamer look of Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, for which his photos served as a reference point.

Fun City Editions’ lovely-looking Blu-ray edition of Hamilton’s debut feature, Bilitis (1977), comes packaged with supplemental materials that contextualize the artistic merits of Hamilton’s career without glossing over its murkier side. The primary on-disc feature focuses on the film’s distinct look, as camera operator Noël Very, a Borowczyk vet, supplies an interesting technical breakdown of how they pulled off Hamilton’s signature visual photography style in a motion picture, while sharing other memories of making Bilitis. There is also a feature length commentary from historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, and a booklet essay from Samm Deighan, who explores the film’s place in the early career of screenwriter and future filmmaking provocateur, Catherine Breillat.

Bilitis may not appeal to everyone, or even keep their interest, but it’s hard to imagine there could ever be a better home video release of the film—with exquisite A/V quality and a roster of knowledgeable contributors, it’s an excellent package.

(vinegarsyndrome.com/products/bilitis-fun-city-editions)