''Bilitis'' is a 1977 French romantic and erotic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, directed by photographer David Hamilton, with a music score by

Francis Lai Francis Albert Lai (; 26 April 19327 November 2018) was a French composer, noted for his film scores. He won the 1970 Oscar for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film '' Love Story''. The s ...

. It stars

Patti D'Arbanville Patricia D'Arbanville is an American actress known for her appearance in Andy Warhol projects. Career After ''Flesh'', D'Arbanville performed in Warhol's '' L'Amour'' (1973), and as the title character in the David Hamilton film '' Bilitis'' ...

and Mona Kristensen as the title character Bilitis and Melissa, respectively. The film is loosely based on a poem cycle by

Pierre Louÿs Pierre Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection". ...

entitled ''

The Songs of Bilitis ''The Songs of Bilitis'' (; french: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic, essentially lesbian, poetry by Pierre Louÿs published in Paris in 1894. Since Louÿs claimed that he had translated the original poetry from Ancient Greek, t ...

'' set in ancient Greece, although the film is set in modern Europe. The poems were meant to be autobiographical works by the title character.

Synopsis

A teenage schoolgirl spends the summer with a couple whose marriage is strained, and develops a lesbian crush on the wife. Meanwhile, she pursues a local teenage boy and tries to find a "suitable male lover" for the wife. Although ''Bilitis'' can be described as a

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

film the title character, Bilitis, ends up returning to school at the end of the film, realizing that she is not yet ready for adulthood.

Cast

as Bilitis * Mona Kristensen as Melissa *

Bernard Giraudeau Bernard René Giraudeau (18 June 1947 – 17 July 2010) was a French actor, film director, scriptwriter, producer and writer. Early life He was born on 18 June 1947 in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime. In 1963 he enlisted in the French navy as a tra ...

as Lucas *

Gilles Kohler Gilles Kohler is a French actor, born November 18, 1948 Former Model, Gilles Kohler started out in 1974 as the blonde angel Jean in Marcel Carné's ''La Merveilleuse visite''. Two years later he plays Jean-Pierre, a lover between two women (Claude ...

as Pierre *

Mathieu Carrière Mathieu Carrière (; born 2 August 1950) is a German actor. Life Carrière grew up in Berlin and Lübeck; he attended the Jesuit boarding school in Vannes, France, a school which had previously been attended by the director of Carrière's firs ...

as Nikias * Irka Bochenko as Prudence * Jacqueline Fontaine as Head Mistress * Marie-Thérèse Caumont as Sub-Principal * Germaine Delbat as Principal * Madeleine Damien as Nanny * Camille Larivière as Susy * Catherine Leprince as Helen * Sabine Froute as Sabine

Production

The film was shot in the same

soft focus In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while ...

style that was characteristic of David Hamilton's photography and his other films.

Companion book

In 1977, Hamilton released a photobook, ''Bilitis,'' which included the most memorable images from the film.

Soundtrack charts

References

External links

* * 1977 films 1970s erotic drama films 1977 romantic drama films 1977 LGBT-related films 1970s French-language films Films directed by David Hamilton French LGBT-related films Lesbian-related films French romantic drama films French erotic drama films Films scored by Francis Lai Erotic romance films Teensploitation Films based on works by Pierre Louÿs 1970s French films {{romantic-drama-film-stub