Customer Reviews

Bilitis [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This story is based upon Pierre Louys' turn-of-the-century novel, deals with a young schoolgirl's awakening to love. It takes place during her summer vacation at the home of a family friend, Melissa. The young girl, Bilitis, is shocked when she witnesses her friend and her husband making love, however Melissa encourages Bilitis to discover the aspect of love by seeing a young photographer, Lucas. When Lucas tries to make love to Bilitis, she rebuffs him and runs to Melissa, who in comforting Bilitis finds herself responding to her kisses and embraces. Melissa tells Bilitis there must be nothing more between them.

Bilitis discovers Melissa's husband is with another woman, so she decides to find another man for Melissa. She returns with Nikias, a rich young man who has loved too many too well, and both Melissa and he know they cannot have an affair. In the end Melissa and Lucas becomes lovers and Bilitis returns to her school realizing she is not yet ready for adulthood.

The quality of the VHS movie, while watchable, is not very good. However, the sound quality is even worse. There is a lot of high frequency hiss that should have been filtered out in production.

There is adult nudity, plenty of earl teen nudity (front/rear), adult themes and sexual situations (between Melissa and Bilitis). This is one of David Hamilton's better productions, on par with Laura and certainly better than Tender Cousins.

I waited for a long time the DVD version of this visual masterpiece (I have already the VHS tape). Promising a digitally remastered version with enhanced audio (Stereo 2.0), New Star Video offers not only the movie but also you can choose (from the main menu) a still gallery with the Hamilton's beautiful pictures (taken from the film) or just the music (to listen your favorite song of the movie). I gave it four stars because the DVD includes only the dubbed english version, without offering the original french audio or subtitles. Also, the remasterization didn't improve the quality of the images as I expected, but the audio sounds fine.

Bilitis is a coming of age film about an innocent girl staying with Melissa (a family friend) and her husband. She learned some painful lessons about love during her stay, such as witnessing the husband forcing himself on his wife every night, his infidelity, and Bilitis's own contentious romance with a local boy named Lucas. She decided to help Melissa by finding her a lover. However, Melissa and Lucas became romantic, and Bilitis returns to boarding school heartbroken but wiser in love.

Overall, the story and cinematography are good, and the actors (especially Patti D'Arbanville) are talented and attractive. However, I couldn't overcome the fact that Ms. D'Arbanville looked much older than her classmates. In fact, she was 26 years old at the time. This shatters the illusion of a teenager finding her first romance. Casting adults as teens is common, and if you can see past the 10 year spread between actor and character, this film deserves four stars. Additional note: most of the actresses appeared nude in the film, including several teens.

Some coming of age films of merit starring actual teens are Hamilton's other films "Laura" and "Tender Cousins", as well as "Beau Pere", "Pretty Baby", "Little Lips", and "36 Fillette".

The english photographer & director,David Hamilton...& music score,lovly as ever by Francis Lai..makes this story about a young schoolgirl's awaking to love,pure magic.The beauitful
PATTI D'ARBANVILE..as..BILITIS..is just breathtaking.Sure there's a whole lot of nudity.But it's not pron.There's no girls running around having sex.It just shows them as girls togehter might be in the vision of the director.I happen to own an ORIGINAL VHS..it's a PERFECT ORIGINAL.It can be order at"MOVIES UNLIMITED".That's how I got it.And it took a lot of years.I once had it on BETA.I now have it on a dvd-burner print.PERFECT!
The story takes place around the beginning of the 20th Century.
Bilitis forsakes the man she loves to give him to her best friend.Played by MONA KRISTENSEN..as..Melissa.It all takes place on her summer vacation away from home.Bilitis discovers Melissa's husband is with another woman,so she decides to find another man for her.Doing so Bilitis is realizing she is not yet ready herself for adulthood.She will make you laugh..& cry.
Set in England..it's a real beauiful love cult story that people have missed.Ms.D'Arbanville..later played Chevy Chase's girlfriend in 1981 movie.."MORDERN PROBLEMS"And she's still beauitful then as in Bilitis in 1977. A MUST HAVE CLASSIC FOREIGN MOTION PICTURE for the collector.Take a step away from today's Blue Screen..specil effects with people on strings..and watch a real movie that will have you thinking of.."BILITIS!".

I bought Bilitis on DVD from Amazon to get better picture quality than the very old VHS copy I have. But I got very disappointed. The DVD's picture quality is no better at all! The DVD is obviously just copied it from a VHS, despite this DVD seems to be the "official" one.
The picture quality is the worst of any in my DVD collection. Low resolution. Low contrast. Low color saturation. Jerky picture. You can even see some horizontal stripes typical only for faulty, old videotapes! A shame the studio released this DVD without bothering to scan the original 35 mm.
The movie itself is what you can expect from David Hamilton, who is no "real" film director, but a photographer. Or he pretends to be. I don't think he has ever been even close to take one single clear focused picture during his entire life. But he is even worse as a director. His films have dull dialogue (dubbed), untalented acting, boring and completely uninteresting story lines, silly characters, and so on.
The only honest reason to look at Hamilton's books and films is that he somehow knows how to get pretty young girls appear nude in front of the camera. A pity the picture quality is so dull then.
I give this DVD two stars because of a rare, one minute scene with a couple of skinny-dipping girls. And a third one, divided between some OK music themes and a few more nude shoots (including a softy, lesbian "sex scene" between the main character and a woman.) Story, acting, picture quality and "extras" (hardly anything more than scene selections and own music score) get zero combined.

David Hamilton's oeuvre of late 1970s erotica is known above all for its imagery, particularly his limpid images of teenage girls exploring their sensuality. Plot, such as it is, is simply a device to link the nude scenes. It's dated stuff but he still has a following. Arguments rage over whether it's art or smut. Like it or loathe it there can be no argument that picture is paramount.
This Australian DVD release fails Hamilton badly because of the dire quality of the transfer. It has been mastered from videotape rather than film and mastered badly. The image quality is coarse and the early scenes are further marred by video tracking error. The frame edges are ragged rather than sharp and straight. The aspect ratio is 1.33:1 rather than the 1.85:1 of the 35mm cinema release.
Save your money and hold out for a version remastered from the original film elements and presented in 1.85:1.

Bilitis (all short vowels) is leaving her boarding school. Although it seems puritanical in some respects, it is quite permissive in others. Bilitis has taken another girl as a lover but must leave her as she leaves school. She is not going with parents, but with a governess of some sort.

Bilitis then runs into a young man she who took pictures at her school and begins to spend time with him. Meanwhile she becomes aware that her governess and her husband do not have the best relationship. She seduces her governess and vows to find her a lover. I am not real clear on the motivations here but in the end Bilitis is not the happiest of campers.

Based on a French classic I have not read, I do not know how well it follows the story. I do know that I felt there was a lot missing and that many things were not quite clear. Although meant to be erotic, there is plenty of casual nudity and a couple of understated love scenes. Definitely not for the narrow-minded but very mild overall.

I now have this adult classic on ORIGINAL DVD.it's not bad..but they could have clear up the picture better.One more thing..a person..wrote...that the music was awful.He's crazy.The music score..is pure beauty.Very very lovely.He must have expected HARD-ROCK SCORE-so sad.Anyhow...again..this is not Porn.All the girls might have looked younger then legal age..but who knows?Bilitis...looked..15 or 16.But she was in her mid-20's.
It's an art movie to began with.David Hamilton...we need you back!

Bilitis (Patti d'Arbanville) attends an all-girl school that is about to break for summer... Once on vacation, Bilitis comes to hold with her developing sexuality and strikes up a romantic liaison with a local boy... A secondary romance concerns Bilitis' female guardian and her new husband...

The treatment of sensuality is soft and beautiful, which is in keeping with Hamilton's style of photography... At the beginning of the film, we see the sweet, sensual bodies of the schoolgirls exuberantly bathing in a mountain lake...

When Bilitis is finally seduced, it is exaggerated romance, heavily diffused, implying rather than showing their coupling... The lovemaking between the married couple is equally stylized, but more steamy...

Where is the original version for this beautiful film? It is necessary to make a new DVD in FRENCH but with a high and good quality of image.
I'm sure that a lot of people was waiting for this DVD from a long time ago and what happen now ?. It isn't a very good product.
A little bit of a sexual scene was cut nearly the end of the story. Why ?.