Bilitis (1977)
Bilitis is a French erotic film from 1977 directed by photographer David Hamilton, with a music score by Francis Lai. Starring Patti D’Arbanville and Mona Kristensen as the title character Bilitis and Melissa, respectively.
Plot
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.
Although Bilitis can be described as a coming of age 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
Notable scenes
The erotic scenes in soft focus.
Making of Bilitis
Although the UK cinema version was complete the 1987 video release was cut by 25 secs by to edit a sex scene implying an anal rape.
The film was shot in the same soft focus style that was characteristic of David Hamilton’s photography and his other films.
In 1977, Hamilton released a photobook, Bilitis, which included the most memorable images from the film.
The film is loosely based on a poem cycle by Pierre Louÿs entitled The Songs of Bilitis set in ancient Greece, although the film is set in modern Europe.
David Hamilton was a British photographer and director living in France known for his photography of nude young women and girls. His signature soft focus style was called the “Hamilton Blur”, which was erroneously thought to be achieved by smearing Vaseline on the lens of his camera. It was not created that way. Hamilton’s images became part of an art or pornography debate.
In October 2016 French presenter Flavie Flament accused Hamilton of raping her . According to Flament, the acts were committed in 1987 when she was 13 years old, in Cap d’Agde, a naturist resort in southern France. Hamilton denied these claims but several more accounts of rape came after that. In November 2016 Hamilton was found dead by his cleaner with a plastic bag over his head.
Our view on Bilitis
When it was released this film caused a sensation. Beautiful, usually young, naked women filmed in a classy style, David Hamilton is known for by his photography. Some say it is art and some say it is porn. See it as art and a piece of history. But don’t fall asleep. Exploitflix thumbs up!
