erotic
Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
film directed by
Radley Metzger
Radley Metzger (January 21, 1929 – March 31, 2017) was an American filmmaker and film distributor, most noted for popular artistic pornographic films, including '' Thérèse and Isabelle'' (1968), '' Camille 2000'' (1969), '' The Lickerish ...
from a screenplay by Michael DeForrest, based on the 1848 novel and 1852 play ''
La Dame aux Camélias
''The Lady of the Camellias'' (), sometimes called ''Camille'' in English, is a novel by Alexandre Dumas ''fils''. First published in 1848 and subsequently adapted by Dumas for the stage, the play premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in P ...
Nino Castelnuovo
Francesco "Nino" Castelnuovo (28 October 1936 – 6 September 2021) was an Italian actor of film, stage and television, best known for his starring role as Guy Foucher in the French musical film ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (1964).
Castelnu ...
with
Eleonora Rossi Drago
Eleonora Rossi Drago, born Palmina Omiccioli, (23 September 1925 – 2 December 2007) was an Italian film actress. She was born in Quinto al Mare, Genoa, Italy, and had the leading role in '' Le amiche''. She appeared in '' The Facts of Mur ...
and Massimo Serato.
The story follows Marguerite, a beautiful woman of affairs (a double entendre on man of affairs) who falls for the young and promising Armand, but sacrifices her love for him for the sake of his future and reputation.
Plot
Camille 2000 is set in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, in the late sixties. Marguerite Gautier lives a carefree life filled with parties, encounters, drugs, and casual relationships, all in the luxurious villa of her benefactor, Count De Mauriac. To the elderly count, Marguerite—known as Camille due to her love for
camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...
s—is more than a lover; she's like a daughter, having met her after his real daughter died from an overdose.
Armand Duval arrives in Rome, a young French entrepreneur sent by his father for business. At one of the many social events, he quickly meets Marguerite. While he falls for her instantly, she sees him as just another temporary relationship, amidst her other affairs, which sparks his jealousy. However, Marguerite gradually begins to develop feelings for Armand and decides to spend the summer exclusively with him, secretly leaving for
Porto Ercole
Porto Ercole () is an Italian town located in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the Province of Grosseto, Tuscany. It is one of the two major towns that form the township, along with Porto Santo Stefano. Its name means "Port Hercules". It i ...
on De Mauriac's luxurious yacht. During their vacation, Armand's father approaches Marguerite, suspecting her relationship with his son is driven by financial motives, and convinces her to leave him.
Marguerite reluctantly returns to her world of promiscuity and becomes increasingly trapped in drug addiction. She distances herself from Armand, who remains unaware of the conversation between her and his father. Marguerite humiliates him by being caught with another lover. They meet again at a party, where Armand realizes the extent of her addiction. When he learns of her hospitalization in a clinic, he rushes to her side but arrives too late, only to hold her in his arms as she dies.
Nino Castelnuovo
Francesco "Nino" Castelnuovo (28 October 1936 – 6 September 2021) was an Italian actor of film, stage and television, best known for his starring role as Guy Foucher in the French musical film ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (1964).
Castelnu ...
as Armand Duval
*
Eleonora Rossi Drago
Eleonora Rossi Drago, born Palmina Omiccioli, (23 September 1925 – 2 December 2007) was an Italian film actress. She was born in Quinto al Mare, Genoa, Italy, and had the leading role in '' Le amiche''. She appeared in '' The Facts of Mur ...
as Prudence (credited as Eleonora Rossi-Drago)
*
Roberto Bisacco
Roberto Bisacco (1 March 1939 – 10 October 2022)Massimo Serato as Armand's father
* Silvana Venturelli as Olympe
* Peter Chatel as Marguerite's Friend
Release
''Camille 2000'' opened in New York on 16 July 1969.
Reception
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 14% based on seven reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
was not impressed and gave the film a one-star review.
Yet, some critics found strengths in ''Camille 2000''. Film critic Gary Morris noted that the film is "a breathless series of ultra-plush environments that resonate with Italian haute design of the period" Critic Marcus Doidge referred to ''Camille 2000'' as a "cult" favorite and noted the film "offered up way more drama than I expected from it. The story perfectly balances sex with drama and genuinely gives us a couple that are getting drawn closer and closer together, even when we know they would probably be better off apart at times".
Notes
According to Steve Gallagher of ''
Filmmaker
Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
'', Radley Metzger's films, including those made during the
Golden Age of Porn
The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American pornography, in which sexually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the genera ...
(1969–1984), are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a penchant for the unusual
camera angle
The camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The diff ...
". Clare Simpson of
WhatCulture
WhatCulture Ltd. is a British online entertainment news website and magazine which was launched in 2010. The site offers news in the field of professional wrestling, television, films, music, video games, and board games.
History
Originally star ...
noted that his films were "highly artistic—and often cerebral ... and often featured gorgeous
cinematography
Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...
". Film and audio works by Metzger have been added to the permanent collection of the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
Mubi
Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; the Auteurs before 2010) is a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available ...
(related to
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...