Doriana Gray (Jess Franco, 1976)

This is probably the first time I’ve reviewed a porn movie on Ex-Ninja… and it’s not any blue movie, it’s one directed by my favorite filmmaker Jess Franco. Like many of Franco’s films there were different versions released for different markets, some with porn inserts, some with less or more violence, some with different actors and storylines. I don’t know what Franco thought about this, but I still think it reflects the notion that film is a living organism. It changes, transforms – for good and bad. What changes was made to Doriana Gray I don’t know, but it clearly feels like the porn – the graphic scenes of masturbation and sex – belongs in the story. Well, story. It’s not much of that, but still it has a lot of that magic only Franco could conjure with his special form of filmmaking.

Lina Romay is Doriana Gray (or Grey, according to some sources), a lonely aristocrat living alone together with her mute butler in a big mansion. She’s a recluse and very hard to get close to, but a journalist – played by a stiff Monica Swinn – manages to get inside and befriends the lonely woman. She has a sister, a twin sister, who lives in an asylum (under a certain Doctor Orloff…). The twin sister is a sexual predator, a nymphomaniac, who lives for sex and with sex. This somehow affects Doriana and the journalist gets more and more drawn into her world of possession and eroticism…

That was hard. But I think I’m kinda correct story wise. It really doesn’t matter, because Doriana Gray is more of poetic (or “pornetic”?) and very intimate showcase for Lina Romay. Lina never really makes a good performance, but she sure has charisma and especially under the eyes of her lover Jess. It really feels like it was shot with Franco and no one else. There’s some stunning footage of Lina just moving around the house, sensually and with the glimmering nightfall sun coming in from behind, and you get that feeling that there’s just them then and now, no one else. Doriana Gray has a lot of these beautiful moments, but I’m afraid they’re shattered by some of the ugliest porn I ever seen.

I mean, I’m happy I’m gay after seeing the stuff going on here. The truth be told, I feel for becoming totally asexual after watching hairy, flaccid dicks getting sucked on by women who clearly don’t want to be there. The big ejaculation scene is just… a failure, like the dick itself didn’t even care if it could jizz or not. Then there are the gynecological close-ups of Lina’s vagina – I promise you, I never seen anyone go sooooooo close to that thing in my whole life. And it’s not the slightest erotic either. Virtually all the sex is bad in this film, and I’m not sure it’s meant to be. I just think Franco stepped over that border that only he could appreciate and gave it as a gift to us innocent bystanders. Thanks Jess, you almost made me impotent.

But if we forget the porn and look at the rest, it’s a damn fine movie. Very Personal and intimate, the way only the Europeans could mix exploitation and arthouse during the seventies. It has beautiful locations, something of a trademark of the director, and in the end a classic Jess Franco production.

The only thing you need to do after watching it is to wash your eyeballs with soap and acid, to get the vagina-cam footage erased from your memory. It might hurt, but it’s worth it. 

Comments

[Caribbean Soul]

You made me watch this movie. Porn or not:))

[Fred Anderson]

I warned you, don't blame it on me! ;)

[Megatron]

"This is probably the first time I’ve reviewed a porn movie on Ex-Ninja… and it’s not any blue movie, it’s one directed by my favorite filmmaker Jess Franco."

I´m hoping there will be more......probably by Franco...hahahhahahhah

"It really doesn’t matter, because Doriana Gray is more of poetic (or “pornetic”?)"

I might have to steal that word from you.

"There’s some stunning footage of Lina just moving around the house, sensually and with the glimmering nightfall sun coming in from behind, and you get that feeling that there’s just them then and now, no one else."

Porn can be that intimate sometimes.....maybe Franco was aiming for that...?

"Then there are the gynecological close-ups of Lina’s vagina – I promise you, I never seen anyone go sooooooo close to that thing in my whole life."

I think you are wrong there, Fred....there are speculum scenes in some porn films.....google at your own risk.

"Thanks Jess, you almost made me impotent."

Tink of Lance Henriksens naked torso and everything will be fine...hahhahahahhah.....well, Franco seems to be thinking of his straight crowd.

"The only thing you need to do after watching it is to wash your eyeballs with soap and acid, to get the vagina-cam footage erased from your memory. It might hurt, but it’s worth it."

Hm.....that sounds like a great scene in the movie....hahahhahah....good review and thanks Fred.