He said that one day they call him to say that they found the ideal solution for the main role. For the American producers, had come the time for the sons of actors. He adds, that this girl is insolent and incompetent and that no, he did not want her, he wanted Rosemary Dexter. She said (apparently) that she would forget this film and who knows if it's because of some hot scenes or for the inspiration from De Sade or if this work contrasts heavily with the image with which identify her more. Well, Romina Power has had an intense and light-hearted period of life, between films and sexy photos and funny social life, before meeting and falling in love with the farmer / singer Al Bano Carrisi and becoming a synonym of happy and healthy family in the seventies and eighties.

Returning to that "he" of the beginning, we must say that the good Jess Franco is in a very rich international production that also involves the "American International Picture" and that allows him to work with actors like Klaus Kinski, Mercedes McCambridge, Sylva Koscina, Akim Tamiroff, Gustavo Re and Maria Rohm who started to work with Franco and who was married to the producer Harry Alan Towers who also wrote the screenplay. Filmed entirely in Barcelona, wisely exploited by Franco who uses among the many locations the Parque Güell, the Parc de Montjuïc, the Ciutat Vella, "Marquis de Sade: Justine" is a very long (124 ', the uncut version) and animated film that from time to time gives us interesting visions of our beloved Spanish director. Attention to detail, excellent photography (by Manuel Merino who also works in "Vampyros Lesbos"), interesting camera movements, music by Bruno Nicolai and only one flaw that breaks down everything: Romina Power.

The seventeen-year-old daughter of Tyron, already had a good film experience and is here in a role too big for her, who also covers with little desire as seen in some scenes. Legends tell that in some cases the violence that hit her character was a bit 'real to get a spontaneous reaction. Who knows, the fact is that Romina Power is the fulcrum of the story, the protagonist of almost all the scenes and as mentioned flattens the drama and sadism of the story.

She is Justine, sister of Juliette (Maria Rohm), characters of an incarcerated and dreaming De Sade who writes the story during the imprisonment. Orphans and evicted from the convent where they live, the two sisters seek a solution. Juliette ends up in a brothel, while Justine begins a long pilgrimage that brings her into contact with the worst scoundrels of the place. She is a servant but is unjustly accused of stolen and incarcerated. She escapes from prison and finds himself in the company of criminals who try to abuse her. She meets a painter, love of her life, but must flee because hunted ending up in a castle where the homosexual Marquis plans to kill his wife (the beautiful Sylva Koscina), then blaming her. And she arrives in a sadistic convent, becomes an erotic theatrical attraction, before reuniting with the beautiful sister Juliette.
So many situations for an interesting and certainly well done film.