''Justine'' is a 1969 American

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- ...

directed by

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...

and

Joseph Strick Joseph Ezekiel Strick (July 6, 1923 – June 1, 2010, aged 86) was an American director, producer and screenwriter. Life and career Born in the Pittsburgh area town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Strick briefly attended UCLA, then enrolled in the U.S ...

. It was written by Lawrence B. Marcus (with uncredited contributions from critic Andrew Sarris), based on the 1957 novel '' Justine'' by Lawrence Durrell, which was part of the series '' The Alexandria Quartet''.

Plot

Set in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

in 1938, a young British schoolmaster named Darley meets Pursewarden, a British

consular A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

officer. Pursewarden introduces him to Justine, the wife of an Egyptian

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

. Darley befriends her, and discovers she is involved in a plot against the British, the goal of which is to arm the Jewish

underground movement Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...

in Palestine.

Cast

Anouk Aimée Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (born 27 April 1932), known professionally as Anouk Aimée () or Anouk, is a French film actress, who has appeared in 70 films since 1947, having begun her film career at age 14. In her early years, she studi ...

as Justine *

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as '' Doctor in the House'' (1954) for the Rank Org ...

as Pursewarden * Michael York as Darley *

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...

as Narouz * Anna Karina as Melissa * Philippe Noiret as Pombal * John Vernon as Nessim *

Jack Albertson Harold Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981), known professionally as Jack Albertson, was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in variety. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor. For his perfo ...

as Cohen *

Cliff Gorman Cliff Gorman (born Joel Joshua Goldberg; October 13, 1936 – September 5, 2002) was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of '' The Boys in the Band'', and went on to reprise his role in the ...

as "Toto" * George Baker as Mountolive * Elaine Church as Liza * Michael Constantine as Memlik Pasha *

Marcel Dalio Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) ...

as French Consul General * Michael Dunn as Mnemjian * Barry Morse as Maskelyne * Danielle Roter as Drusilla

Production

The film's pre-production was prepared by director Joseph Strick, who intended to shoot the movie in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. He did some location filming there, but fought with the executives at Fox and with star

. When he did not hire others for the film as instructed by the studio and slept on the set while working on one of Aimee's scenes, they fired him and

was brought in. He proceeded to bring the film to Hollywood where the remainder of the film was finished. It became a financial flop and received critical reviews. Some scenes were shot at

Ennejma Ezzahra Ennejma Ezzahra ("Star of Venus"), sometimes spelled Nejma Ezzohara, also The Palace of the Baron d'Erlanger is a historical palace at Sidi Bou Said, in northern Tunisia, built from 1912 - 1922 by Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger (1872–1932) as his ...

, a palace at Sidi Bou Said, in northern

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Reception

According to Fox records the film required $12,775,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $2,775,000. In September 1970 the studio reported it had lost $6,602,000 on the film.Silverman p 259

References

External links