Constance (1998 film)
| Constance | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Knud Vesterskov |
| Produced by |
Lene Børglum Peter Aalbæk Jensen Lars von Trier |
| Written by | Knud Vesterskov |
| Starring |
Katja Kean Anaïs Mark Duran Niels Dencker |
| Music by |
Peter Kyed Peter Peter |
| Cinematography | Steen Møller Rasmussen |
| Edited by | Rikke Malene Nielsen |
| Distributed by |
Team Video Plus (Denmark) Magma (Germany) |
Release dates | 1998 (Denmark) |
Running time | 70 mins |
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | Danish |
Constance (1998) is an erotic film "for women," directed by Knud Vesterskov and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa. It was the first hardcore pornographic film ever to have been produced by an established mainstream film studio.[1]
Constance is based on the Puzzy Power Manifesto[2] developed by Zentropa in 1997, and was the first in a series of pornographic films aimed particularly at a female audience.[3] The others would be Zentropa's Pink Prison (1999) and All About Anna (2005).
Plot
A young woman, Constance (Anaïs), arrives at the mansion of the experienced Lola (Katja Kean), 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. (In the English-language version, narration is by Danish actress Susan Olsen and Helle Fagralid).
Critical reception
The film was shown in mainstream cinemas in Europe, and was reviewed by mainstream film critics.[4] The Stockholm Film Festival arranged a special screening in Stockholm on Valentine's Day.[4]
Constance became a considerable success, and generated considerable hype, especially in Scandinavia.[4] It was nominated for three AVN Awards: Best Art Direction - Video; Best Music; and Best Videography. The reaction of film critics was "mixed."[4]
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.[5]
In September 2007, German weekly magazine Stern 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. Lars von Trier is the first to have realised this and produced valuable quality porn films for women."[6]
References
- ↑ AVN Europe, November 2007, page 13
- ↑ Puzzy Power Manifesto text
- ↑ Yvonne Tasker, Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers, Routledge, 2002, p.367 ISBN 0-415-18974-8
- 1 2 3 4 Jack Stevenson, Fleshpot: cinema's sexual myth makers & taboo breakers, 2nd edition, Critical Vision, 2000, ISBN 1-900486-12-1
- ↑ Film Appeals Committee: Complaints regarding Films "Constance", "Pink Prison" and "Zazel", text of the Norwegian Media Authority regarding censorship, 12 March 2006 (in Norwegian)
- ↑ Stern #40, 27 September 2007