British born photographer-turned-director David Hamilton enjoyed crossover arthouse success with his soft-focus ode to a young girl’s blossoming sexuality, Bilitis, when it toured the world in 1977.
If released today, its lingering, leery shots of barely-developed school girls would no doubt cause a Bill Henson-like backlash. But in the mid 70s the director’s reputation as an established photographic artist, specialising in gallery-worthy nude portraits and renowned expressions of feminine sexuality in his work, allowed Bilitis to be considered as a major French/English co-production of significant merit.
Hamilton’s film was based upon the centuries-old three-part text 'The Songs of Bilitis’ by Pierre Luoys, and many of the shot compositions were lifted from the original text’s artwork (by Willy Pogany). Bilitis opens on a group of late-teen French schoolgirls as they prepare for an end-of-term parental visit. Bilitis (New York-born actress Patti D’Arbanville) is an outsider who sits alone, contemplating the summer that lies ahead, while the other girls skinny-dip (in one of Hamilton’s less-subtle celebrations of the female form).
The summer that Bilitis is to spend with her guardian Mel (Mona Kristensen, real-life partner of the director ) becomes the summer in which Bilitis awakens to her body. It was quite a time for the young Bilitis, and no less so for the viewer – her first kiss, a new boyfriend (who betrays her in a vigorous liaison with Mel – that she watches!), a French lover and an exciting dabbling in lesbianism all make for a giddying few weeks.
David Hamilton would make only four more films, all of which present an innocent maiden’s earliest lustful urges as soft-focus, soft-core 'art’. His follow-up film, Laura (1979), was a global hit; Tendres cousines (Cousins in Love, 1980), Un été Á Saint-Tropez (A Summer in St Tropez, 1983) and Premiers désirs (First Desires, 1984, the debut film of French actress Emmanuelle Beart) solidified his standing amongst European audiences, though the onset of Reagan-era conservatism meant they were not as warmly received, elsewhere.
Notwithstanding the polarised reactions to depictions of teen nudity and young sexuality, Hamilton’s detractors point to his laboured dialogue, turgid plotting and melodramatic acting. He has many high-profile academics in his corner, though – his photography was displayed at Berlin’s Photokino institute as part of the 'Four Modern Masters of Erotic Photography’ exhibition. Supporters say that Hamilton’s films should be viewed as 'artistic works’, and that acting and scripting are minor considerations when viewing the film’s aesthetic qualities. You don’t look at the frame holding a Botticelli, or read the label of bottle of red from Chateau Lafite Rothchild, to know it is a creation of great beauty.
Bilitis hasn’t aged well and is only of note because it is so brazen in its depiction of one of cinema’s taboo topics. In the coffee table book of stills that accompanied the film’s release, Hamilton refers to the young cast as 'les demoiselles d’Hamilton", or 'Hamilton’s girls". 'Their presence is a statement of the film’s themes, as well as an esthetic (sic) delight", says the filmmaker. One moreso than the other, I would hazard a guess.
