SHINING SEX: The Debauched Tone Poetry Of Dr. Jess

Appreciating the work of Jesus Franco poses multiplechallenges. The first is that his filmography is massive, including some genresthat certain viewers refuse to watch (i.e. porn films and hardcore variants ofseveral of his films). The other is that Franco's devil-may-care filmmakingmethods, combined with low budgets and other production hassles, result in abody of work that even his devoted fans will admit varies wildly in qualityfrom film to film.

That said, the biggest challenge in appreciatingFranco's work is his free-spirited refusal to play by the rules of conventionalcelluloid narrative. Fans often compare his approach to filmmaking to themethodology of your more experimental jazz musicians: he riffs outside offormula concerns, refuses to be confined by structure, alternates betweenrecognizable patterns or concepts and indulging in pure free association,focuses on pleasing himself over pleasing the audience and is prone to comingup with endless variations on a set of pet themes.  ShiningSex is a good example of the aforementioned list of musical tendenciesrunning free to create something best described as a debauched tone poem.

ShiningSexstarts like a pure-blooded sexploitation item, with nightclub performer Cynthia(Franco muse Lina Romay) performing a long and anatomically explicit striproutine before being summoned by a pair of well-heeled swingers, Alpha (EvelineScott) and her lover/assistant Andros (Raymond Hardy). Cynthia thinks theysimply want sex but soon finds she has become a slave to them, changing thefilm into a weird softcore/sci-fi hybrid where the otherworldly duo forceCynthia to perform cosmic seduction/executions on their enemies. Meanwhile, themystically inclined Dr. Seward (Franco) has become telepathically aware ofthese events and tries to find Cynthia before it's too late.

If the above synopsis sounds quirky, the way it playsout challenges the viewer's senses. Franco's directorial point-of-view issteeped in voyeurism: the first half-hour is largely devoted to the cameraexploring every corner of Romay's body in both strip routines and sexualsituations. In trademark Franco style, there are frequent slow-zooms into anextreme close-up of her groin. Romay not only plays along with this butgleefully flaunts her body, often to a gynecological degree.  They are the perfect storm of director andstar, the compulsive voyeur united with the unquenchable exhibitionist in apact where they endlessly indulge each other's most carnal urges.

As the indoor fireworks commence, Franco begins to sneakin the weird elements: Scott and Hardy give detached, eccentric performancesthat test the viewer's perception of what's happening (Scott's behavior in thesex scenes must be seen to be believed). After the seduction of Cynthia iscomplete, the weird elements take equal footing with the sexual material: soonour heroine is wandering barren, isolated stretches of Euro cityscape andcountryside while having periodic feverish couplings with other actors that expireupon climax. We discover the alien origins of the villainous duo as well asCynthia experiencing physical side-effects of her trance that suggest a porn versionof Cronenbergian body horror.  It allbuilds to an ending that suggests a porn filmmaker emulating gothic horror andweirdo sci-fi at the same time.

The end result is too odd and languid for the raincoatcrowd despite its almost-hardcore sex scenes but also too minimalist, odd andperverse for the sci-fi crowd.  Thatsaid, Shining Sex offers a barrageof strange delights for those who can tune in to Franco's obscure wavelength.He has an amazing knack for creating a distinctive atmosphere and look utilizinga tiny amount of settings (mainly futuristic Euro-architecture) and a handfulof players.  Though obviously filmedquickly and in an improvisational manner, there are a number of stunningcompositions and an interesting use of the color green as a recurring visualmotif. If you surrender to Franco's whims, the film can give you the kind ofwoozy narcotic feeling experienced by its heroine, particularly if viewed lateat night.

Those already accustomed to Franco's style get anadditional bonus in the form of familiar narrative elements from his past thathe recycles and reinterprets here. The concept of a vengeful killer using aslave to commit murder by proxy dates back to mid-'60s Franco films like The Diabolical Dr. Z.  Franco lifted the character name of Dr.Seward from Dracula and had beenusing the character since the early '70s in different films, including hisfamous Vampyros Lesbos. Having Romayplay a seductress who merges sex with murder was also a key element of The Female Vampire. Cementing theself-referential feel is Franco's appearance here as a character bedeviled bylusty, eccentric visions that consume his being without him being able tocontrol their flow. Watching this film is like watching Franco hold up multiplemirrors to reflect himself and his cinematic past.

Thus, Shining Sexis an item for very particular tastes, one likely to mystify those outside ofFrancophile circles... but no one ever combined extreme voyeurism andoff-the-cuff surrealism the way Franco did. Watching this film is like enteringthe dimension the film's villains come from. If that sounds like a good time,you'll enjoy getting overstimulated by this film.

Blu-RayNotes: this was a bootleg item until Severin Films recentlyrescued it for a lavish blu-ray release. Despite some element issues, thetransfer is pretty impressive in terms of clarity and color (the English dub isthe sole audio choice here). There are also plentiful supplements, a fewincluding the thoughtful Franco expert Stephen Thrower, and an eye-popping reelof hardcore footage that shows just how committed Romay was to her work. If youtrack down the limited pressing 1st edition, you also get a bonus CD oftrance-inducing soundtrack instrumentals from this and other films by Daniel J.White. If you've got a heart of Eurosleaze, you need to track this one down.

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