José Bénazéraf (1922 - )
Related: mainstream erotic movies - Euro trash - French cinema
still from Sexus (1964) - José Bénazéraf
Biography
José Bénazéraf is a French filmmaker and producer, born January 8, 1922 in Casablanca, Morocco.
After having finished his studies in political sciences, he started his carreer by producing Les lavandičres du Portugal in 1958, a film of Pierre Gaspard-Huit. He started to direct erotic feature films in 1961 with L'éternité pour tous.
At the end of the 1970s, he moved his attention to the direct-to-video market, which has damaged his reputation somewhat. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_B%C3%A9naz%C3%A9raf [Jun 2006]
IMDB Profile
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0126864/Radley Metzger [...]
CORLISS: Then there was José Benazeraf's Sexus.
METZGER: The original title was La Plus Longue Nuit. They sold a lot of Henry Miller books on the basis of the movie, but I suspect that a lot of people went to the movie thinking it was the film version of that book. We had another Benazeraf movie, The Fourth Sex, and I've seen all his movies. He really has a feel for making an erotic movie. There's a degenerate streak in his films, which he lives. You literally can smell the film. It's a gift. And he has impeccable taste in choosing his girls. Sexus was a very strong picture at the time. We were a little worried about it because it had a couple of lesbian striptease acts.
CORLISS: Were they in the original film?
METZGER: Yes. I didn't do anything with Sexus except cut about forty minutes out of it. It was a style that might go today, but it seemed very slow then. We were trying to give our audience a little more commercial entertainment, so I compressed the thing, took out a lot of the pauses.
CORLISS: Benazeraf was the subject of a rather affectionate article by Jean-Luc Godard in Cahiers du Cinema.
METZGER: I think that was a gag, to show how sheeplike French critics were. They took this guy who makes these really dreadful little movies, and claimed all sorts of profundities for him. It was the Emperor's New Clothes.
CORLISS: You think Benazeraf's movies are dreadful?
METZGER: Well he has this great erotic feel, but his story-telling is so primitive. I've seen the pictures that weren't shown here‹unreleasable. He became the darling of the French Left when one of his pictures - Joe Caligula - was banned for violence.
CORLISS: Do Benazeraf and Pecas represent the outer limits of French sex films?
METZGER: I guess so. I don't think they're into hard-core yet.
CORLISS: How many different versions would you make of a film like Sexus?
METZGER: At that time, the question was survival. We really would do anything to get the film exhibited. But some states, like New York, were very strict. I think we helped knock the State Censorship Board out with The Twilight Girls. I got my old City College arrogance back: when they said, "It's a dirty picture," I said, "No, it isn't dirty." And they said, "Well, it's lousy." And I said, "That's like saying a rich man deserves more justice than a poor man. A bad picture should be shown just the same as a good picture." We were in the courts for two years over The Twilight Girls, but we finally won. And that was one of the last big cases the New York Board fought before it died. --Radley Metger interviewed by Richard Corliss in Film Comment, January 1973 via http://www.vidmarc.demon.co.uk/mondo-erotico/metzger/interviews/aristo1.html [Nov 2004]
Sexus (1964) - José Bénazéraf
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Sexus (1964) - José Bénazéraf
The original title was La Plus Longue Nuit. They sold a lot of Henry Miller books on the basis of the movie, but I suspect that a lot of people went to the movie thinking it was the film version of that book. We had another José Bénazéraf movie, The Fourth Sex, and I've seen all his movies. He really has a feel for making an erotic movie. There's a degenerate streak in his films, which he lives. You literally can smell the film. It's a gift. And he has impeccable taste in choosing his girls. Sexus was a very strong picture at the time. We were a little worried about it because it had a couple of lesbian striptease acts.
A beautiful heiress is kidnapped and held hostage until her wealthy father comes up with a ransom. The heiress develops an attraction to one of her kidnappers, but another member of the gang tries to rape her, leading to a deadly triangle. --Ray Hamel via imdb.com
Joë Caligula (1966) - José Bénazéraf
- Joë Caligula - (1966) - José Bénazéraf
Another extremely cool (and exquisitely rare) B&W number from Jose Benazeraf, filled with hard men and slinky sex kittens. Joe and his crew stick up night clubs while wearing wraparound sunglasses and brandishing Sten guns. They hang out at strip joints where the chicks take it off – slowly – to the tune of "I’m Evil." For kicks they watch their women battle it out in vicious apartment catfights where the loser gets sliced up the spine with a stilletto. Immediately banned upon release and almost impossible to find today, we have a great looking completely UNCUT and letterboxed French language print. --http://www.revengeismydestiny.com/EurotrashJ.html
Bordel SS - (1979) - José Bénazéraf
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Rare Brigitte Lahaie (from her early brunette days) porno directed by Jose Benazeraf. Brigitte and the girls in a French brothel play host to all of the SS Officers' perverted games. One of the girls (Barbara Moose) works for the resistance and uses the brothel as a means to spy on the SS. Also stars Erika Cool, Karin Gruas, Guy Royer & Alban Ceray. --http://www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=2656
Paris under occupation. In a little quiet parisian house, nazis officers having sex with french girls... Nice little story with a 70's feeling. Shoot in 1978 this porn movie is one of the first Brigitte lahaie films. She's still a brunette, becoming blonde later in this business. Nothing much to say except that is a very rare film to find these days and a great collector for Brigitte Lahaie's fans.
The atmosphere is quite nice but a little more decadence await during the whole movie. That is not what i called Nazisploitation but nice porn movie with SS. Still the "already" great Lahaie and very nice looking girls touching herself through the movie. I kinda like that! The soundtrack is also a great one! Just see it, if you can find a copy! --ilovejeanrollin via imdb.com
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