''Constance'' is a 1998

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

erotic film Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or hav ...

directed by

Knud Vesterskov Knud Vesterskov is a Danish film director who originally made his mark with a long string of experimental art films. He later wrote and directed two highly unusual hardcore pornography films, '' Constance'' (1998) and ''HotMen CoolBoyz'' (2000), ...

and produced by

Puzzy Power Puzzy Power (aka HotMale) is a Danish film company started in 1997 as a subsidiary to Lars von Trier's company Zentropa, with the goal of producing hardcore pornographic films for women. It is the only time ever a mainstream film company has openly ...

, a division of

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...

's film company

Zentropa Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen. Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film ''Europa'' (1991), which started the colla ...

. It was the first

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

ever to have been produced by an established mainstream film studio. ''Constance'' is based on the Puzzy Power Manifesto developed by Zentropa in 1997, and was the first in a series of pornographic films aimed particularly at a female audience. The others would be Zentropa's ''

Pink Prison ''Pink Prison'' is a 1999 erotic film for women, directed by Lisbeth Lynghøft, and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa. As the follow-up to ''Constance'' (1998), it was the second hard-core pornographi ...

'' (1999) and ''

All About Anna ''All About Anna'' is a 2005 Danish erotic film directed by Jessica Nilsson and starring Gry Bay and Mark Stevens. The film is explicit in its exploration of sexual relationships. It is a co-production between Innocent Pictures and Lars von Tri ...

'' (2005).

Plot

A young woman, Constance (Anaïs), arrives at the mansion of the experienced Lola (

Katja Kean Katja K, also known as Katja Kean and Sussi la Cour Dollenz (born 7 February 1968 in Denmark as Sussi la Cour), is a Danish former pornographic actor, pornographic actress, businesswoman, actress, singer, author, and media personality. Kean studi ...

), where she is initiated into the mysteries of sexuality. The story is told in flashback via a framing device with lyrical diary excerpts and narration read by mainstream actresses Christiane Bjørg Nielsen and

Hella Joof Hella Joof (born 1 November 1962) is a Danish actress and director. She was born to a Danish mother and an aristocratic Gambian father who belonged to the Joof dynasty. Joof directed '' En kort en lang'' (2001), ''Oh Happy Day'' (2004) and '' ...

. (In the English-language version, narration is by Danish actress Susan Olsen and

Helle Fagralid Helle Fagralid (born 11 May 1976) is a Danish actress who has appeared in number of feature films and television series. Career Fagralid played Iben in the TV-series ''Nikolaj og Julie'' (2002–2003), Freja, the goddess of love, in the TV-se ...

Critical reception

The film was shown in mainstream cinemas in Europe, and was reviewed by mainstream film critics.Jack Stevenson, ''Fleshpot: cinema's sexual myth makers & taboo breakers'', 2nd edition, Critical Vision, 2000, The

Stockholm Film Festival The Stockholm International Film Festival ( sv, Stockholms filmfestival, italic=no) is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year since then during the second half of November. The w ...

arranged a special screening in Stockholm on Valentine's Day. ''Constance'' became a considerable success, and generated considerable hype, especially in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

. It was nominated for three

AVN Award The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and m ...

s: Best Art Direction - Video; Best Music; and Best Videography. The reaction of film critics was "mixed." In 2006, it was in part this film's claim of mainstream audience viewing behind a process that ended up with porn being legalized in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. In September 2007, German weekly magazine ''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

'' wrote: "Women too like to see other people having sex. What they don’t like is the endless close-ups of hammering bodyparts without a story.

is the first to have realised this and produced valuable quality porn films for women."''

'' #40, 27 September 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Constance (1998 Film) 1990s pornographic films 1998 films Danish erotic films