Film (1969)

Poster under Italian title

Venus in Furs (Italian: Paroxismus - Può una morta rivivere per amore, German: Schwarzer Engel) is a 1969 Italian supernatural erotic thriller film directed by Jesús Franco and starring James Darren.

The film (also known as Paroxismus and Black Angel) bears only a superficial resemblance to the 1870 Venus in Furs novel by Leopold von Sacher Masoch. The title and character names in Franco's original script were changed to the novel's for commercial reasons. Franco's movie is a surreal supernatural erotic thriller about unattainable love and how far one is willing to go for the person they desire. It is not a study in masochism as portrayed in the novel.

James Darren plays a jazz musician who becomes obsessed to the point of madness with the mysterious fur-clad Wanda (Maria Rohm), only to find her dead body washed up on the beach.

Cast

• James Darren - Jimmy Logan
• Barbara McNair - Rita
• Maria Rohm - Wanda Reed
• Klaus Kinski - Ahmed Kortobawi
• Dennis Price - Percival Kapp
• Margaret Lee - Olga
• Adolfo Lastretti - Insp. Kaplan (as Aldo Lastretti)
• Jesus Franco - Jazz musician (uncredited)
• Manfred Mann - Jazz musician (uncredited)
• Paul Muller - Hermann (uncredited)
• Mirella Pamphili - (uncredited)

Reception

The New York Times wrote a negative a review of Venus in Furs on its initial release, stating that the film "features much inept fancy moviemaking (including echoes of "La Dolce Vita" and even "Vertigo"), some semi-nudity, and virtually endless confusion".