FIRST DESIRES (1984)
d. David Hamilton; pr. Alain Terzian; scr. Michael Erdmann, Philippe Gautier, Bertrand Levergeois; ph. Alain Derobe; m. Philippe Sarde; ed. Francois Zeppi; cast. Monika Broeke, Patrick Bauchau, Emmanuelle Beart, Inge Maria Granzow, Anja Schute, Bruno Guillian, Stephane Freiss (93 mins)
A Photographic Obsession with the naked Adolescence of Feminine Maturity: "barely legal" as art
First Desires is the last feature film directed by noted erotic photographer David Hamilton, an artist whose photographic obsession is the young female body.
From his first major release Bilitis, Hamilton as a director has insisted on dreamily photographing young women as they discover their sexuality. His interest in the dawning of female desire and his gorgeous presentation of the female nude make his films highly charged erotica, ravishing in their view of the female as erotic subject. For First Desires, Hamilton takes as a plot point three teenage girls who leave their group camp to travel by boat on an island and who, after wandering alone for some time, finally meet the male residents – teenage boys and a married man, the dashing millionaire owner of the private island: soon these girls experiment with their own sexuality.
Subjectification vs. Objectification in Erotic Motion Picture Arts
Hamilton explores, as is his pre-occupation, the inter-relationship between sexual objectification and erotic subjectification in the art of Eros.
He invites viewers to contemplate the naked girls as erotic spectacle but in that the first nude scene involves a girl looking at her own reflection, frames the erotic appeal through the spectacle of young women contemplating their own erotica just as it is offered as said spectacle. In that, the film represents the sexual subjectification of young women at the point of their own sensual awareness and resultant sexual desires. As such, it is a beautiful look at youth and the onset of sexual maturity in the seemingly voyeuristic appreciation of contemplating nudity and sexual congress, all the while centred on what was the object of erotic art (including that often demonized as pornography) – female sensual and sexual pleasure.
Filmed at a leisurely pace, filtered and brightly lit with an impressionistic naturalism First Desires is another variation of the female coming of age story, contrasting the sensual and sexual individuality of the three girls as they discover their own unique interests – in men and, for one, in her own gender. Light and breezy is perhaps a way to describe this movie, filled with the fearless discovery that attends teenage yearning – for individual self-expression and sexual initiation with people of one’s own age and older. Never exploitative, First Desires is a delightfully free and open celebration of young adulthood, capturing the thrill of yacht rides on the open water, sensual caresses behind curtained bedrooms and first kisses. The desire to look at and contemplate erotic awareness is held as a natural, beautiful thing in this film – there is no shame, guilt or “sin” to be found anywhere in Hamilton’s work, even though his obsession with young girls brought his photographic studies into controversial disrepute with religious (usually Christian) charlatans.
Constructs of Innocence & Experience | Girlhood & Womanhood
A mature and reflective study of girlhood in transition to womanhood through sensual self-awareness, First Desires is erotic entertainment in the French style as pioneered by such directors as Just Jaeckin in Emmanuelle.
But where Jaeckin focused on the sexual freedom and liberation of mature women, Hamilton (and his Australian echo John Lamond in the concurrently released DVD of Felicity) concentrates on the sexual independence of young women in an age of open discovery, as made possible by the age of permissiveness dreaded by conservative, religious types. Hamilton contrasts the girl’s freedom with the responsibility faced by the mature residents of the island, counter-pointing sexual awakening with the more mature sexual expression that attends adulthood, and which one girl aspires to rather quickly.
As a depiction of contrasting sexual awakening, the second half of First Desires is a mature consideration of sexual need, emotional responsibility and self-discovery as these young women bond and relate their experiences and expectations of love and desire.
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US DVD PURCHASE INFORMATION: First Desires ( Premiers désirs ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - United Kingdom ]
UK DVD RELEASE INFORMATION: Premiers Desirs [DVD] [1983]
AUSTRALIA DVD PURCHASE INFORMATION: First Desires
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logo & illustrations by Ed Seeman, used with permission
