/ Doesn't that swirly retro font instantly promise "erotic film"? /
Recently watched: Monique (1970). I saw in the early hours of 2019 in the manner I intend to continue - watching a dirty movie! I was crashed-out on the sofa after getting in from celebrating New Year’s Eve. My boyfriend had gone to bed. Flicking through the TV stations, I heard the announcer for London Live caution that the proceeding film contained “sexual situations”. Say no more – I’m interested! Monique kept me glued to the screen until 3:30 am!
/ Joan Alcorn as frustrated housewife Jean, on the cusp of her erotic awakening /
The one-sentence IMDb synopsis: “Monique is a vivacious French au pair girl who not only looks after the children, but also sexually satisfies the parents.” Monique is a gloriously tawdry, tatty low-budget British sexploitation film with the kind of décor and clothing that screams “made-in-1969”: in other words, catnip for me. At points it almost felt like a British interpretation of Russ Meyer’s Vixen relocated to South East England suburbia!
Protagonists Bill and Jean are a stressed young middle-class couple with two children going through a dry patch in their marriage who decide to get a European nanny to assist around the house. They get more than they bargained for with the arrival of go-go booted, micro-mini skirted French temptress Monique. The personification of Continental sophistication, the sexually-assured and liberated Monique is great with the kids, an accomplished cook – and a skilled seductress who lures both husband and wife into bed.
/ Monique and Jean in an intimate moment /
Monique isn’t the lame Carry On-style “sex comedy” you might expect. It builds convincing sexual tension between the trio and takes a surprisingly sympathetic, non-judgmental and non-exploitative stance on their ménage trois. Bit of a spoiler, but no one gets "punished" for transgressing and at the conclusion Bill and Jean’s dalliance with Monique is shown to spark an erotic awakening that brings them closer together. (And this is decades before concepts like polysexuality, sexual fluidity and non-monogamy were hot topics).
/ Altering a dress for Jean, Monique seizes the opportunity to cop a feel. Bill is oblivious /
Director John Bown frequently makes unexpectedly stylish choices. The acting is surprisingly subtle, and the casting is interesting. Bill the husband is a bit ineffectual and weak-willed, but not a one-dimensional lecherous wolf (and the actor who plays him - David Sumner - is a dark-eyed hottie). Joan Alcorn as the frustrated wife gives perhaps the the most nuanced performance in Monique. You genuinely feel that Jean has undergone a transformation by the end. Rather than a stereotypical teenage Lolita / nymphette, Sibylla Kay (the actress who plays the voracious Monique) is a sultry adult woman who appears to be in her early thirties. Striking and unsettling rather than conventionally beautiful, Kay exerts a powerful presence and an almost Marlene Dietrich-like aura of mystery.
/ Sibylla Kay as the free-spirited sensualist Monique /
/ Monique and Jean in an intimate moment /
Monique isn’t the lame Carry On-style “sex comedy” you might expect. It builds convincing sexual tension between the trio and takes a surprisingly sympathetic, non-judgmental and non-exploitative stance on their ménage trois. Bit of a spoiler, but no one gets "punished" for transgressing and at the conclusion Bill and Jean’s dalliance with Monique is shown to spark an erotic awakening that brings them closer together. (And this is decades before concepts like polysexuality, sexual fluidity and non-monogamy were hot topics).
/ Altering a dress for Jean, Monique seizes the opportunity to cop a feel. Bill is oblivious /
Director John Bown frequently makes unexpectedly stylish choices. The acting is surprisingly subtle, and the casting is interesting. Bill the husband is a bit ineffectual and weak-willed, but not a one-dimensional lecherous wolf (and the actor who plays him - David Sumner - is a dark-eyed hottie). Joan Alcorn as the frustrated wife gives perhaps the the most nuanced performance in Monique. You genuinely feel that Jean has undergone a transformation by the end. Rather than a stereotypical teenage Lolita / nymphette, Sibylla Kay (the actress who plays the voracious Monique) is a sultry adult woman who appears to be in her early thirties. Striking and unsettling rather than conventionally beautiful, Kay exerts a powerful presence and an almost Marlene Dietrich-like aura of mystery.
/ Sibylla Kay as the free-spirited sensualist Monique /
Some of the action takes place over Christmas, so as a bonus watching it also felt festive! (They sure liked cheap tinsel on their Christmas trees in '69). Monique is both a time capsule of the swingin' “permissive era” and an unexpected gem. As The Movie Waffler blog concludes, "With its middle class British setting, Monique resembles an episode of something like George and Mildred guest directed by Teorema-era Pasolini." Is there any higher recommendation?
I was crushed to discover Monique isn't available on YouTube! But thankfully its irresistibly lurid trailer is.
I was crushed to discover Monique isn't available on YouTube! But thankfully its irresistibly lurid trailer is.
I have a copy of MONIQUE on DVD. I also like all things 1966-73. Great review, I concur. You didn't mention the wonderful soundtrack by the Jacques Loussier Trio. (famous for the Hamlet TV cigar ad in the late 1960s) and there were also good location shots in 'Suburbia'. I haven't figured out exactly where yet but- the station is obviously not on a busy main line, there are London buses running right outside the station and there are several shots near a river. I wondered if it was somewhere like Kingston or Surbition.
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