Libido: The Urge to Love (1971) User Reviews

Worth watching

[lazarillo · 9 March 2007]

This is the touching story of a provincial French girl (Sandra Julien) who, after an accidental fall down an elevator shaft, discovers that she is (gasp!)a nymphomaniac. She loses her fiancé, gets fired from her job, is kicked out of the house by her parents, and has to leave her small town for big, bad Paris where she falls under the spell of an older predatory pair of libertines (Janine Reynaud and Michael Lemoine).

It's hard to know what to make of this movie. With the crappy English dubbing it seems a lot like those ridiculous 16 mm. black-and-white Harry Novak-type sexploitation movies they were making in America in the 1960's and 1970's. However, visually the film is very well-made and it features sumptuous European actresses like Jean Rollin's regular Julien and Jess Franco regular Reynaud (rather than the pimply anonymous Times Square skanks that were in the American sexploitation movies of the era). Perhaps it is a more serious and classy production than the atrocious English soundtrack would leave you to believe.

In any case, I don't think this movie was exactly meant to be a serious exploration of nymphomania so much as an excuse for a lot of nudity and softcore sex by the aforementioned Julien and Reynaud. Nothing wrong with that though. The girls in these type of movies have always been male fantasy figures, but these ridiculous pre-feminist European fantasy figures of days gone by are definitely more interesting than the equally ridiculous but much more jaded, post-feminist fantasy figures of today. I'd like to see this in French with English subtitles, but it's worth watching regardless.

Surprisingly quite good

[barnabie · 7/10 · 22 December 2005]

I found "I am a Nymphomaniac" surprisingly quite good in it's issue, and is definitely not a comedy as tagged in some reviews

A young girl becomes addicted to sex after an accident. Carole, played by actress Sandra Julien, hates what she's become, but is compelled to have sex with anyone that will comply. Her work soon takes her to France where things start escalating out of control. After a suicide attempt she is helped by a priest and her doctor, and is diagnosed as having psychological problems and that her illness is curable.

Although the movie featured soft-core gratuitous sex scenes,(soft-core by todays standards) attention is bought to a rare illness that isn't always recognised as an illness. Some decent acting from Sandra Julien (some of the other characters seemed a little wooden) and an interesting storyline, i enjoyed this movie quite a lot and gave Nymphomaniac 7 out of ten.

Good film about a real and sincere girl in a fake hypocritical world

[kmhf-25079 · 10/10 · 5 November 2018]

The whole film a beautiful, magical and charming heroine of Sandra Julien (by origin - Italian Sandra Kalaputti) young and inexperienced girl Carol unsuccessfully struggling with his inner sexuality, experimenting in every way with its manifestations, which is in contradiction with the so-called moral norms of society, which is actually thoroughly false, hypocritical, lustful and false. Pushing his heroine with his individual representatives, the filmmaker causes the audience sympathy, participation and pity in relation to the confused girl and resentment, disgust and contempt for the people who shamelessly use naivety and inexperience of Carol to meet their vile needs, did not care about her feelings. Fortunately for the girl, she stumbles with a man who saw in her not only the body, but managed to see her deep soul, which gave her a real and sincere Love. Sandra Julien's beautiful game and original, vital theme make this film outstanding and unforgettable.

Score 9 out of 10.

Exquisitely Filmed Erotica..

[spadovano · 7/10 · 12 January 2024]

French director Max Pecas, cut from the same cloth as other filmmakers like Radley Metzger, Joe Sarno, and to a lesser degree, Just Jaeckin and Jess Franco, has created an exquisitely lensed and dreamlike tale of a beautiful young woman who finds her own libido out of control. The low rating on sites like this only prove that the system is highly inaccurate, because obviously certiain films are only ever seen by the wrong audience. Those looking for a well told, linear tale with a strong story arc, are likely going to rate a film like this lower. There is a story here, with a fine dramatic arc, but it all takes a back seat to the lush visuals. Because at it's core, this IS erotica, and that is not going to appeal to mainstream tastes. At the heart of "Je suis une nymphomane" are the scenes of sexual coupling and nudity, all of which are surprisingly tasteful, and even "chaste.." The heroine of this sexual tale, Sandra Julien, is a classic beauty, and her fascinating, innocent portrayal of the young woman lost in her mental illness, carries the film with competence and class. Rather than playing the part of Carol as a one dimensional sex kitten, she chooses to give the character real emotions, displaying her confusion and genuine pain, fear and shameful disgust over her situation. Her scenes with the Priest are among the most effective and beautiful; those outdoor shots of the two figures, walking among the church grounds with the rays of natural sunlight streaming through the trees..this director knows his craft well. In fact every frame of this movie is gorgeous, expertly photographed, with flawlessly lit, richly decorated interior shots, with a lot of oil paintings and flowers in vases always seen in the pastel colored background...Highly recommended for fans of 1970's softcore films, this one stands out as one of the best.