French erotica

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"France has long been recognized as the source of all types of art and literature connected with the erotic sphere. In modern times, France has been the producer of novels, tales and dramas dealing in divers ways and from exceedingly varied viewpoints with sexual love. France exported these products to every other nation of the world. Why is it, for instance, that when we think of the French influence we immediately conjure up certain notions about the naughtiness and venereal escapades of its characters? Why is it that the majority of erotic books are French? Why is it that naughty picture cards and various other indecent drawings have been marketed to the rest of the world from France? Do not these facts serve to bolster up the truth of our contention about the primacy of France in the erotic realm!"--The Erotic History of France (1933) by Henry L. Marchand

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No nation has enjoyed a greater reputation for producing and tolerating erotica --from the 17th century libertine novels to the "whore dialogues", from the Pads edition of Joyce's Ulysses to And God Created Woman-- than France. Philosophe Denis Diderot penned an 18th-century novel featuring talking body parts, while poet Guillaume Apollinaire spiced up one of his short works with fetishism. And then there's Gay Paree, Marquis de Sade and Brigitte Bardot.

-[[Image:Kiki by Julian Mandel.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Erotic postcard]] by [[Julian Mandel]] (c. [[1920]]), the model is [[Kiki de Montparnasse]]]]
+{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
-[[Image:Cardinal Armand de Rohan-Soubise.gif|thumb|200px|''[[Cardinal Armand de Rohan-Soubise]]'' by [[anonymous]]
+| style="text-align: left;" |
-<br>
+"[[France]] has long been recognized as the source of all types of art and literature connected with the erotic sphere. In modern times, France has been the producer of novels, tales and dramas dealing in divers ways and from exceedingly varied viewpoints with sexual love. France exported these products to every other nation of the world. Why is it, for instance, that when we think of the French influence we immediately conjure up certain notions about the [[naughtiness]] and [[venereal]] escapades of its characters? Why is it that the majority of [[erotic books]] are French? Why is it that [[naughty picture cards]] and various other indecent drawings have been marketed to the rest of the world from France? Do not these facts serve to bolster up the truth of our contention about the primacy of France in the [[erotic]] realm!"--''[[The Erotic History of France]]'' (1933) by Henry L. Marchand
-Anonymous [[satirical]] [[caricature]] of the Cardinal Armand de Rohan-Soubise (1717-1757); this engraving is a good example of "[[pornography]]" as a tool for political [[subversion]] during France's [[ancien régime]].
+|}
-]]
 {{Template}}
-:''[[world erotica]], [[French popular culture]],  [[French striptease]], [[libertine novel]], [[French exploitation]], [[French erotic literature]], [[enfer|L'enfer]], [[prostitution in France]] ''
-No nation has enjoyed a greater reputation for producing and tolerating [[erotica]] --from the 17th century [[libertine novel]]s to the "[[whore dialogue]]s" to the original Pads edition of Joyce's ''[[Ulysses]]''-- than France. Philosophe [[Denis Diderot]] penned an 18th-century novel featuring talking body parts, while poet [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] spiced up one of his short works with fetishism. And then there's [[Paris|Gay Paree]], [[Marquis de Sade]] and [[Brigitte Bardot]].
-==Erotic art==
-:''[[Erotic art]]''
-'''Erotic art''' covers any [[Work of art|artistic work]] including [[painting]]s, [[sculpture]]s, [[photography|photographs]], [[music]] and [[writing]]s that is intended to evoke [[erotic]] [[arousal]] or that depicts scenes of [[human sexuality|love-making]].
-Due to [[censorship]], artists past and present, have to resort to [[pretext]]s for [[history of erotic depictions|displaying the naked human form]].  With painters of the past, the depiction of historical, mythological, and religious subjects often provided such '''pretexts for nudity in art''', as in [[The Temptation of St. Anthony|the temptation of saint Anthony]], the [[massacre of the innocents]], the battle of the [[Lapith]]s and the [[centaur]]s), [[Leda and the Swan]], the [[three graces]], and [[Venus]], who has become a byword for the [[female nude]], tout court.
-Over time, secular excuses for showing the undraped human form complemented and, later, supplanted these historical, mythological, and religious pretexts, athleticism being one such excuse, as in [[Edouard Manet]]’s ''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]''.  In the traditional arts, [[nudity]] has long since become accepted, but the same is not yet true with regard to more recent artistic [[media]], such as [[film]].
-==Erotic literature==
-:''[[Erotic literature]]''
-'''Erotic literature''' comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts which sexually arouse the reader, whether written with that intention or not. Such [[erotica]] takes the form of novels, short stories, poetry, true-life memoirs, and [[sex manuals]]. Erotic literature has often been subject to censorship and legal restraints on publication.
-==Erotic photography==
-:''[[Erotic photography]]''
-The French pioneered [[erotic photography]], producing nude [[postcards]] that became the subject of an officer's letter to President [[Abraham Lincoln]] after they were found in the possession of U.S. troops, according to ''[[An Underground Education]]'' by Richard Zacks. ''A Brief History of Postcards'' explains, "A majority of the French nude postcards were called postcards because of the size. They were never meant to be postally sent. It was illegal".
-Instead, nudes were marketed in a monthly magazine called "[[La Beauté]]" that targeted artists looking for poses. Each issue contained 75 nude images which could be ordered by mail, in the form of postcards, hand-tinted or sepia toned. Street dealers, tobacco shops, and a variety of other vendors bought the photographs for resale to American tourists.
-==Erotic film==
-:''[[Erotic film]]''
-The use of '''sex in film''' has been [[controversial]] since the [[early film|earliest use of cinematography]] and the first portrayals of [[love scene]]s and [[nude scene]]s. Ever since the silent era of film there have been [[actor]]s and [[actress]]es who have shown parts of their bodies or undergarments, or dressed and behaved in ways considered sexually provocative by contemporary standards. Some films have been criticized and/or [[banned film|banned]] by various [[religion|religious]] groups and governments because of this. The difference with [[pornographic film]]s is that erotic films are [[List_of_mainstream_films_with_unsimulated_sex|simulated]]. For further distinctions, see the [[Erotica vs. pornography debate|erotica/pornography]] pages.
-In early [[1970s]], [[France|French]] viewers had become familiar with stag films shot in the [[Netherlands]], featuring French actresses such as [[Claudine Beccarie]] and [[Sylvia Bourdon]]. The first genuine French pornographic film ''[[Les Baiseuses]]'' by [[Guy Gibert]] was released in [[1975]]. The first French porn film that met international success was ''[[Le Sexe qui parle]]'' by [[Claude Mulot]], which was released the same year (followed by a sequel two years later). This film was so successful that it was exported to the US, with the name ''Pussy Talk''.
-In [[1976]], a law that put considerable sanctions on pornographic films in distribution and taxation, known popularly as ''[[Code X]]'' was imposed, creating a situation that forced pornography develop itself on its own right. Since then, pornography has been a growing economy in France, now existing in various forms from magazines to satellite TV broadcasting.
-==Etymologies==
-===Erotica===
-*Erotic ([[1621]])
-(implied in ''erotical''), from Fr. ''[[érotique]]'', from Gk. ''[[erotikos]]'', from ''eros'' (gen. erotos) "[[sexual love]]".
-*Erotica (1854)
-from Gk. neut. pl. of ''erotikos'' "[[amatory]]," from ''eros''; originally a [[bookseller]]s' [[catalogue heading]].
-*[[Erotomaniac]]
-"one driven mad by [[passionate love]]" (sometimes also used in the sense of "[[nymphomaniac]]") is from [[1858]].
-*[[Eroticize]] ([[1914]])
+No nation has enjoyed a greater reputation for producing and tolerating [[erotica]] --from the 17th century [[libertine novel]]s to the "[[whore dialogue]]s", from the Pads edition of Joyce's ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' to ''[[And God Created Woman]]''-- than France. Philosophe [[Denis Diderot]] penned an 18th-century novel featuring talking body parts, while poet [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] spiced up one of his short works with fetishism. And then there's [[Paris|Gay Paree]], [[Marquis de Sade]] and [[Brigitte Bardot]].
-*[[Eroticism]] (?) --[[Douglas Harper]] via http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=erotica&searchmode=none [May 2005]
+== Prehistory ==
-===Pornography===
-The word derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''pornographia'', which derives from the Greek words ''porne'' ("[[prostitute]]"), ''grapho'' ("to write or record"), and the  suffix ''ia'' (meaning "state of", "property of", or "place of"), thus meaning "a place to record prostitutes". See also: [[whore dialogue]]s
-The terms ''pornographer'', pornography and ''porn'' were not attested before the [[1850s]] in the English language, though it had been used by [[Restif de la Bretonne]] in his 1769 ''[[Le Pornographe]]''. We will therefore distinguish between ''avant la lettre'' and ''apres la lettre'' pornography.
+:''[[prehistoric erotica]], [[Lascaux]], [[Shaft of the Dead Man]]''
 == 12th century ==
-:''[[12th century literature]]''
+:''[[12th century literature]], [[Lecheor]] and other [[Breton lai]]''
 ===Letters of Heloise and Abelard ===
 :''[[Letters of Heloise and Abelard ]]''
 == 15th century ==
+[[Image:Fouquet Madonna.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels]]'' (detail, c. [[1450]]) [[Jean Fouquet]]]]
 :''[[15th century literature]]''
 ====Les Cent Nouvelles nouvelles====
 == 16th century ==
-:''[[16th century literature]]''
+:''[[16th century literature]], [[16th century art]], [[Renaissance erotica]], [[French Mannerism]]''
 [[Image:Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs]]'' by an [[unknown artist]] of the [[School of Fontainebleau]], painted in [[1594]]
 <br>
 [[Image:Venus spied upon.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Venus (or a Nymph) Spied On by Satyrs]]'' (c. [[1627]]) by [[Nicolas Poussin]]]]
 :''[[French literature of the 17th century]], [[French literature]], [[17th century French art]], [[17th century erotica]]''
+[[Antoine Coypel]] and Poussin's mythological painting. Coypel with a ''[[Leda]]'' and Poussin with works such as ''[[Venus (or a Nymph) Spied On by Satyrs]]''.
 Precursors to the libertine writers were [[Théophile de Viau]] (1590-1626) and [[Charles de Saint-Evremond]] (1610-1703), who were inspired by [[Epicurus]] and the publication of [[Petronius]].
+Also of note is the [[Loudun affair]].
 ===Les Vies des Dames galantes===
 :''[[Brantôme's mémoirs|Les Vies des Dames galantes]]'' (1665-1666)
 The format of the book is an example of a [[whore dialogue]]. In a series of five dramatic conversations between two fictional [[nun]]s (sister Agnès and sister Angélique) are related.  In these conversations, the elder more experienced woman instructs the younger about sex.
+===Varia===
+*''[[Histoire amoureuse des Gaules]]''
+*''[[Historiettes]]''
 == 18th century ==
-:''[[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum]], [[18th century French erotica]]''
+:''[[18th century French erotica]]''
-[[Image:Young girl by Pierre-Narcise Guerin.jpg|thumb|200px|'''''Jeune fille en buste''''' [[1794]] by [[Pierre-Narcisse Guérin]] ]]
-[[Image:Rape of the Sabine Women by David.jpg|thumb|200px|'''''The Intervention of the Sabine Women''''' ([[1796]]-[[1799|99]], detail) by [[Jacques-Louis David ]]]]
-[[Image:Charity by Bachelier.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Roman Charity]]'' by [[Jean-Jacques Bachelier]] (1724-1806)]]
+th century France saw a veritable barrage of imagery and writings now considered erotic or pornographic, ranging from ''[[Les liaisons dangereuses]]'' to [[Sade]]'s carnography. The terms ''[[pornography]]'' and ''[[erotica]]'' were not yet attested in the English language, but French writer [[Restif de la Bretonne]] had already used the term ''pornography'' in his 1769 work ''[[Le Pornographe]]''.
-=== Literature ===
-:''[[French literature of the 18th century]], [[French literature]], [[libertine novel]]''
-The '''libertine novel''' was an [[18th century in literature|18th century literary genre]] of which the roots lay in the European but mainly French [[libertine]] tradition. The genre effectively ended with the [[French Revolution]]. Themes of libertine novels were [[anti-clericalism]], [[anti-establishment]] and [[erotic literature|eroticism]].
-Authors include [[Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon]] (''[[Le Sopha, conte moral]]'', 1742), [[Denis Diderot]] (''[[Les Bijoux indiscrets]]'', 1748), [[Marquis de Sade]] (''[[L'Histoire de Juliette]]'', 1797-1801) and [[Choderlos de Laclos]] (''[[Les Liaisons dangereuses]]'', 1782).
-Other famous titles are ''[[Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier des Chartreux]]'' (1741) and ''[[Thérèse Philosophe]]'' (1748).
-Precursors to the libertine writers were [[Théophile de Viau]] (1590-1626) and [[Charles de Saint-Evremond]] (1610-1703), who were inspired by [[Epicurus]] and the publication of [[Petronius]].
-''[[Enfer]]'' is French for [[hell]]. L'enfer also refers to the [[private case]] of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French national library]]. It was founded in the [[1830s]] and separated works which were an "[[outrage aux bonnes mœurs]]" from the rest of the library collection. The contents of this library were cataloged by [[Pascal Pia]] and [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] in the [[1913]] ''[[Les livres de l'Enfer]]'', and in 2007 the "Enfer" was opened to the public in an exhibition titled [[Eros au secret]].
-[[Robert Darnton]] is a cultural historian who has covered this genre extensively.
-====Histoire de Dom Bougre====
-:''[[Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier des Chartreux]]'' (1741)
-'''''Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier des Chartreux''''' is a [[French language|French]] [[libertine novel]] from [[1741]] attributed to [[Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche|Gervaise de Latouche]]. The name Bougre refers to the French term ''boulgre'' meaning [[bugger]].
-Dom Bougre designated the famous [[Pierre Desfontaines|abbé Desfontaines]].
-The novel was republished in [[1778]] as ''Mémoires de Saturnin'' (Paris, Cazin).
-====Le Sopha, conte moral====
-:''[[Le Sopha, conte moral]]'', (1742)
-'''''Le Sopha, conte moral''''' is a [[1742]] [[libertine novel]] by [[Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon]].
-The story concerns a young courtier whose [[soul]] in a previous life was [[curse]]d to travel from [[sofa]] to sofa as a sofa in search of [[true love]] and not to be [[reincarnation|reincarnated]] in a [[human body]] until a man and a woman sincerely in love with each other had [[consummation|consummate]]d their passion on "his" sofa.
-Many of the characters in the novel are satirical portraits of influential and powerful Parisians of Crébillon’s time. For this reason the book was [[published anonymously]] and with a [[false imprint]]. Nevertheless, Crébillon was discovered to be the author and, as a consequence, he was exiled to a distance of fifty leagues from Paris.
-====Les Bijoux indiscrets====
-:''[[Les Bijoux indiscrets]]'', [[1748]]
-'''''Les bijoux indiscrets''''' (English title: ''The Indiscreet Jewels'') was [[Denis Diderot]]'s first novel, [[published anonymously]] in [[1748]]. It is an [[allegory]] that portrays [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] as the sultan [[Mangogul]] of the Congo who owns a [[magic ring]] that makes [[women's genitals]] ("jewels") talk.
-A comparable ''trope'' that Diderot must have known is found in the ribald [[fabliau]] ''[[Le Chevalier Qui Fist parler les Cons]]''.
-Characters include [[Zima]], [[Cucufa]], [[Mangogul]].
-====Thérèse Philosophe====
-:''[[Thérèse philosophe]]'' (1748)
-[[Image:Therese_Philosophe_Frontispiece.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Thérèse Philosophe]]'' ([[1748]]) by [[Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens]]]]
-[[Image:Therese Philosophe Original edition.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Thérèse Philosophe]]'' ([[1748]]) by [[Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens]], original edition]]
-'''''Thérèse Philosophe''''' is a [[1748]] [[French novel]] ascribed to [[Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens]].
-''Thérèse philosophe'' was devoted to recounting the relationship between highly-publicized trial involving [[Cathérine Cadière]] and [[Jean-Baptiste Girard]]. This novel was written and published in France, during the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. It has been chiefly regarded as a [[pornographic novel]], which accounts for its massive sales in 18th-century France (as pornographic works were the most popular bestsellers of the time, see [[Darnton]]). Aside from that however, this novel represents a public conveyance (and arguably perversion) for some ideas of the [[Philosophes]].
-====Les Liaisons dangereuses====
-:''[[Les Liaisons dangereuses]]'', [[1782]]
-'''''Les Liaisons dangereuses''''' (''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a famous [[France|French]] [[epistolary novel]] by [[Pierre Choderlos de Laclos]], first published in [[1782]].
-The book fascinates with its dark undertones. It is the story of the [[Marquise de Merteuil]] and the [[Vicomte de Valmont]], two [[rival]]s who use [[sex wars|sex as a weapon]] to [[humiliate]] and [[degrade]] others, all the while enjoying their [[cruel]] games. It also depicts the decadence of the French [[aristocracy]] shortly before the [[French Revolution]]; thus it is seen as a work that exposes the perversions of the so-called [[Ancien Régime]].
-The book is an [[epistolary novel]], composed entirely of letters written by the various characters to each other. In particular, the letters between Valmont and the Marquise drive the plot, with those of other characters serving as illustrations to give the story its depth.
-The story has been adapted as a film several times&mdash;notably in [[1988 in film|1988]] as ''[[Dangerous Liaisons]]'', directed by [[Stephen Frears]], in [[1989 in film|1989]] as ''[[Valmont (film)|Valmont]]'', directed by [[Miloš Forman]] with screenplay by [[Jean-Claude Carrière]], and in [[1999 in film|1999]] as ''[[Cruel Intentions]]'', written and directed by [[Roger Kumble]].
-The novel is often claimed to be the origin of the saying "[[Revenge is a dish best served cold]]". However the expression does not actually occur in the original novel.
-====Marquis de Sade====
-Numerous writers and artistes, especially those concerned with sexuality, have been both repelled and fascinated by [[Marquis de Sade]].
-[[Simone de Beauvoir]] (in her essay ''[[Must we burn Sade?]]'', published in ''[[Les Temps modernes]]'', December 1951 and January 1952) and other writers have attempted to locate traces of a radical philosophy of [[Freedom (philosophy)|freedom]] in Sade's writings, preceding that of [[existentialism]] by some 150 years. He has also been seen as a precursor of [[Sigmund Freud]]'s [[psychoanalysis]] in his focus on sexuality as a motive force. The [[surrealism|surrealists]] admired him as one of their forerunners, and [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] famously called him "the freest spirit that has yet existed".
-[[Pierre Klossowski]], in his 1947 book ''[[Sade mon prochain]]'' ("[[Sade my neighbour]]"), analyzes Sade's philosophy as a precursor of [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]]'s [[nihilism]], negating both Christian values and the [[French materialism|materialism]] of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].
-One of the essays in [[Max Horkheimer]] and [[Theodor Adorno]]'s ''[[Dialectic of Enlightenment]]'' (1947) is titled "Juliette or Enlightenment and Morality" and interprets the ruthless and calculating behavior of ''[[L'Histoire de Juliette|Juliette]]'' as the embodiment of the philosophy of enlightenment. Similarly, psychoanalyst [[Jacques Lacan]] posited in his 1966 essay "[[Kant avec Sade]]" that de Sade's ethic was the complementary completion of the [[categorical imperative]] originally formulated by [[Immanuel Kant]].
-In ''The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography'' (1979), [[Angela Carter]] provides a [[feminism|feminist]] reading of Sade, seeing him as a "moral pornographer" who creates spaces for women. Similarly, [[Susan Sontag]] defended both Sade and [[Georges Bataille]]'s ''[[Histoire de l'oeil]]'' (''Story of the Eye'') in her essay, "[[The Pornographic Imagination]]" (1967) on the basis their works were [[Transgressional fiction|transgressive]] texts, and argued that neither should be censored.
-By contrast, [[Andrea Dworkin]] saw Sade as the exemplary woman-hating pornographer, supporting her theory that pornography inevitably leads to violence against women. One chapter of her book ''Pornography: Men Possessing Women'' (1979) is devoted to an analysis of Sade. [[Susie Bright]] claims that Dworkin's first novel ''Ice and Fire'', which is rife with violence and abuse, can be seen as a modern re-telling of Sade's ''Juliette''.
-===== L'Histoire de Juliette =====
-:''[[L'Histoire de Juliette]]'' (1797-1801)
-'''''Juliette''''' is a novel written by the [[Marquis de Sade]] and published [[1797 in literature|1797]]–[[1801 in literature|1801]], accompanying Sade's ''[[Justine, or the Misfortunes Of Virtue|Nouvelle Justine]]''. Whilst [[Justine]], [[Juliette]]'s sister, was a [[virtue|virtuous]] woman who consequently encountered nothing but despair and abuse, Juliette is an [[amoral]] [[nymphomaniac]] who ends up [[success]]ful and [[happy]].
-The full title of the novel in the original [[French language|French]] is ''Histoire de Juliette ou les Prospérités du vice'', and the English title is "Juliette, or Vice Amply Rewarded" or "Justine; or Good Conduct Well-Chastised".
-Both ''Justine'' and ''Juliette'' were published anonymously. [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] ordered the arrest of the author, and as a result Sade was incarcerated without trial for the last 13 years of his life.
-=====Les Cent vingt journées de Sodome ou l’École du libertinage=====
-: ''[[Les Cent Vingt Journées de Sodome|Les Cent vingt journées de Sodome ou l’École du libertinage]]'', [[1785]]
-'''''The 120 Days of Sodom or the School of Freedoms''''' (''Les 120 journées de Sodome ou l'école du libertinage'') is a book written by the [[French writer]] [[Marquis de Sade]] in [[1784]]. It relates the story of four [[wealthy]] men who [[slavery|enslaved]] 24 mostly teenaged victims and sexually [[torture]]d them while listening to [[whore dialogue|stories told by old prostitute]]s.
-The book was not published until [[1905]].  Due to its [[extreme]] [[sexual]] and [[violent]] nature, the book remained [[Banned books|banned]] in many countries for a long time. The [[Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma|film adaptation]] by [[Pasolini]] underwent a similar fate.
-====Andréa de Nerciat====
-:[[Andréa de Nerciat]]
-'''André Robert de Nerciat''' ([[Dijon]], [[1739]] - [[Naples]], [[1800]]) was a [[France|French]] writer of [[libertine novel]]s and [[erotic fiction]], best known for his novel ''[[Le Diable au corps (1786)|Le Diable au corps]]''.
-====Antoine François Prévost====
-:[[Antoine François Prévost]]
-'''Antoine François Prévost''' ([[April 1]], [[1697]] - [[December 23]], [[1763]]), usually known simply as the '''Abbé Prévost''', was a [[French author]] and [[novelist]] best known for his [[banned books|forbidden]] [[sentimental novel]] ''[[Manon Lescaut]]''.
-====Restif de la Bretonne====
-:[[Restif de la Bretonne]]
-'''Nicolas-Edme Rétif''' or '''Nicolas-Edme Restif''' ([[October 23]], [[1734]] &ndash; [[February 2]], [[1806]]), called '''Rétif de la Bretonne''', was a [[France|French]] [[novelist]], author of fiction works such as ''[[The Anti-Justine]]'' ([[1798]]) and non-fiction ''[[Le Pornographe]]''. He was the son of a farmer, and was born at [[Sacy]] (Yonne). The term [[retifism]] was named after him.
-''[[The Anti-Justine|The Anti-Justine : or, the Joys of Eros]]'', first published in French in [[1798]] as ''L'Anti-Justine''. It is an erotic novel by [[Restif de la Bretonne]]. It was a reaction to [[Sade]]'s ''[[The Misfortunes of Virtue|Justine]]'', using a very similar style to describe a directly opposite political [[point of view]].The English edition is currently published by [[Creation Books]].
-:"The ''Anti-Justine'' is a [[pornographic]] [[novel]]ization of Restif de la Bretonne's own life and sexual [[debauchery|debauches]], which the author tried to defend "morally" by declaring his book to be an "antidote" to the supposed poison of de [[Sade]]; yet the book is a monumental odyssey of sexual [[depravity]] that often rivals de Sade in its relentless [[explicitness]].
-:"First published in 1798, this erotic classic is now published in a brand new translation. This novel was de la Breton's attempt to write something even more [[obscene]] than the books of his arch-rival de Sade. It is one of the last classic of erotica currently out-of-print and this new edition will restore it to an avid readership. --Creation Books book description
-=== Visual arts ===
-:''[[18th century art]]''
-==== François Boucher ====
-[[Image:Marie-Louise O'Murphy.jpg|thumbnail|200px|right|Painting of [[Marie-Louise O'Murphy]] by [[François Boucher]] c. [[1751]]]]
-:''[[François Boucher]]''
-'''François Boucher''' ([[September 29]] [[1703]] &ndash; [[May 30]] [[1770]]) was a [[French painter]], a proponent of [[Rococo]] taste, known for his [[idyllic]] and [[voluptuous]] paintings on classical themes, decorative - often [[erotic art|erotic]] - allegories representing the arts or [[pastoral]] occupations, and intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture. He painted several portraits of his illustrious [[patron]]ess, [[Madame de Pompadour]] and is best-known for his depictions of [[Marie-Louise O'Murphy]].
-In [[1752]], at fourteen years of age, O'Murphy posed nude for a memorable and provocative portrait by artist [[François Boucher]].  Her beauty caught the eye of [[Louis XV]].  He took her as one of his mistresses, and she quickly became a favourite, giving birth to the king's [[illegitimate]] daughter, Agathe Louise de Saint-Antoine ([[1754]] &ndash; [[1774]]). [[General de Beaufranchet]] is also thought to have been her child but conceived legitimately with the comte de Beaufranchet.
-==== Fragonard ====
-:''[[Jean-Honoré Fragonard|Fragonard]]''
-[[Image:Fragonard, The Swing.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[The Swing (painting)|The Swing]]'' (ca. [[1767]]) by [[Fragonard]]]]
-'''Jean-Honoré Fragonard''' ([[April 5]], [[1732]] &ndash; [[August 22]], [[1806]]) was a [[France|French]] painter and [[printmaker]] whose late [[Rococo]] manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and [[hedonism]]. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the ''[[ancien régime]]'', Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings (not counting drawing and [[etching]]s), of which only five are dated. Among his most popular works are ''genre'' paintings conveying the atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism.
-'''''The Swing''''' (''L'Escarpolette''), also known as ''The Happy Accidents of the Swing'' (''Les Hasards Heureux de l'Escarpolette'', the original title), is an 18th century [[oil painting]] by [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard]]. It is considered as one of the masterpieces of the [[rococo]] era. The painting depicts a young man hidden in the bushes, watching a woman on a [[Swing (seat)|swing]], being pushed by a bishop. As the lady goes high on the swing, she let him take a furtive peep under her dress. As a symbol of loss of virginity, the lady let one of her shoes fly into the air.
-==== Antoine Watteau ====
-[[Image:Flora (1716) - Antoine Watteau.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Flora]]'' ([[1716]]) by [[Antoine Watteau]]]]
-:''[[Antoine Watteau|Watteau]]''
-'''Jean-Antoine Watteau''' ([[October 10]], [[1684]] – [[July 18]], [[1721]]) was a [[French painter]] whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement (in the tradition of [[Correggio]] and [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]]), and revitalized the waning [[Baroque]] idiom, which eventually became known as [[Rococo]]. He is credited with inventing the genre of ''[[fête galante|fêtes galantes]]'': scenes of [[bucolic]] and idyllic charm, suffused with an air of theatricality. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of [[Italy|Italian]] [[comedy]] and [[ballet]].
-He is known for such paintings as ''[[Jupiter and Antiope]]'' and ''[[La Toilette]]''.
 == 19th century ==
-:''[[French can-can]], [[Moulin Rouge]], [[19th century Paris]],  [[19th century French literature]], [[modern art]]''
+:''[[19th century French erotica]], [[French can-can]], [[Moulin Rouge]], [[19th century Paris]],  [[19th century French literature]], [[modern art]]''
-Before the 1860s, Western artists needed a [[pretext]] to depict eroticism and nudity. Mythology or martyrology were the most popular pretexts. This changed after the 1860s with the arrival of [[realism]] in modern art. A key painting that illustrates this transition is [[Manet]]'s ''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]''.
-Beginning with [[Manet]]'s ''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]'', 1863 and jumping to [[Picasso]]'s ''[[Les Demoiselles d'Avignon]]'', 1907, modern art took as its subject matter the urban landscape of the Industrial Revolution, which included such themes as [[Prostitution in art and literature|prostitution]].
+This section is under construction at [[19th century French erotica]].
-In [[1877]], French artist [[Edouard Manet]] exhibited "Nana", a life-size portrayal of an [[prostitute]] in [[undergarment]]s, standing before her [[Nude female/dressed male|fully clothed gentleman]] caller. The model for it was the popular courtesan [[Henriette Hauser]]. Manet was so much taken with the description of the "precociously immoral" [[Nana]] in Zola's ''[[L'Assommoir]]'' that he gave the title "Nana" to his portrait of Henriette Hauser. The painting was rejected by the hanging committee for the [[Paris Salon]] of [[1877]].
-===Literature===
-====Fiction====
-====Gamiani====
-:''[[Gamiani]]''
-'''''Gamiani, ou Deux Nuits d'Excès''''', is a [[French novel]] first published in [[1833]]. Its author is supposed to have been [[Alfred de Musset]], and the eponymous heroine a portrait of his lover, [[George Sand]]. It became a [[bestseller]] among nineteenth century [[erotic literature]].
-====Alcide Bonneau's translations====
-:[[Alcide Bonneau]]'s translations
-[[Alcide Bonneau]] ([[Orléans]], [[1836]], [[Paris]], [[1904]]) was a French intellectual, philologist, literary critic and translator of [[erotica]] and [[curiosa]]. He is also the author of ''[[Padlocks and Girdles of Chastity]]''.
-He was [[lexicographer]] at the ''[[Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle|Grand dictionnaire]]'' of [[Pierre Larousse]] (on Spanish and Italian literature), as well as the ''[[Le Petit Larousse|Nouveau Larousse illustré]]''.
-From [[1876]] to [[1893]], he was the principal collaborator of the editor [[Isidore Liseux]] (1835-1894), for whom he edited, translated and annotated some fifty works labelled as [[erotic literature|erotic]] or simply « [[curiosa|curieux]] » : la ''[[On Civility in Children]]'' by [[Erasmus]] (1877); the ''[[Facetiae]]'' by [[Poggio Bracciolini]] (1878); the ''[[Raggionamenti]]'' by [[Aretino]] (1879-1880); the ''[[Dialogues de Luisa Sigea]]'' by [[Nicolas Chorier]] (1881); the ''[[Sonetti lussuriosi]]'' by Aretino (1882); the ''[[Apophoreta]]'', or ''[[De Figuris Veneris]]'', by German scholar [[Friedrich Karl Forberg|Forberg]], under the title ''[[Manuel d’érotologie classique]]'' (1882); ''[[La Cazzaria]]'' by [[Antonio Vignali]] (1882);  ''Poésies complètes'' by [[Giorgio Baffo]] (1884);  ''[[Raffaella]]'' by [[Alessandro Piccolomini|Piccolomini]] (1884); the ''[[Hecatelegium]]'' by [[Pacifico Massimi]] (1885); ''[[The Mandrake]]'', a comedy by [[Machiavelli]] (1887); ''[[Portrait of Lozana: The Lusty Andalusian Woman]]'' by [[Delgado]] (1887); ''[[Hermaphroditus]]'' by [[Antonio Beccadelli|Beccadelli]] (1892); etc. All translations were annotated, often running longer that the actual text.
-In [[1887]], he collected a number of these essays and published them as ''[[Curiosa: essais critiques de littérature ancienne ignorée ou mal connue]]'', it is said that the later bookselling category ''[[curiosa]]'' thanks its coinage to this collection.
-====Charles Carrington====
-:[[Charles Carrington]]
-'''Charles Carrington''' ([[November 11]], [[1867]] - [[October 15]], [[1921]]) was a leading [[United Kingdom|British]] [[publisher]] of [[erotica]], including [[spanking novel|flagellation novels]] that were illustrated by the [[illustrator]] [[Martin van Maële]]. Born Paul Harry Ferdinando in [[Bethnal Green]], [[England]], he published in [[Paris]] where he also managed a bookshop and for a short period of time moved his activities to [[Brussels]]. Carrington also published works of classical literature, including the first English translation of [[Aristophanes]] "[[Comedies]]," and books by famous authors such as [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Anatole France]], in order to hide his "[[undercover]]" erotica publications under a [[veil]] of [[legitimacy]]. Carrington died at St-Ivry, [[France]].
-====Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal====
-[[Image:Les Epaves by Rops.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Les Épaves]]'' ([[1866]]) by [[Félicien Rops]] (detail)]]
-:[[Charles Baudelaire]]'s [[Les Fleurs du mal]]
-'''''Les Fleurs du mal''''' (literal trans. "The Flowers of Evil") is a volume of [[French poetry]] by [[Charles Baudelaire]]. The poems represented the near-totality of his poetic output since [[1840]]. First published in [[1857]], the poems were of influence to the [[symbolism (arts)|symbolist]]s and [[modernism|modernist]]s. Their subject matter deals with themes relating to [[decadence]] and [[eroticism]]. A number of the poems were banned in France following an [[obscenity]] trial on [[August 20]], [[1857]].  [[Ernest Pinard]], the magistrate who ruled the case had also been involved in the ''[[Madame Bovary]]'' trial.
-====Théophile Gautier====
-:[[Théophile Gautier]]
-'''Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier''' ([[August 30]], [[1811]] – [[October 23]], [[1872]]) was a [[French writer]] best known today for his novel  ''[[Mademoiselle de Maupin (novel)|Mademoiselle de Maupin]]'' (1835), the novella ''[[La Morte amoureuse]]'' (1836) and his preface to the 1868 edition of [[Baudelaire]]'s ''[[Les Fleurs du mal]]''.
-While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many subsequent literary traditions such as [[Parnassian poets|Parnassianism]], [[Symbolism]], [[decadent movement|Decadence]] and [[Modernism]]. He was widely esteemed by writers as diverse as [[Baudelaire]], the [[Goncourt brothers]], [[Flaubert]] and [[Oscar Wilde]].
-He is said to have coined the phrase [[art for art's sake]], was a member of the [[Bouzingo]], a reference in the [[decadent movement]] and a member of the [[Club des Hashischins]].
-====Octave Mirbeau ====
-:[[Octave Mirbeau ]]
-'''Octave Mirbeau''' ([[February 16]], [[1848]] in [[Trévières]] - [[February 16]], [[1917]]) was a French [[journalist]], [[art critic]], [[pamphleteer]], [[novelist]], and [[playwright]], who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic [[avant-garde]]. His best-known works are ''[[The Torture Garden (novel)|The Torture Garden]]'' and ''[[The Diary of a Chambermaid]]''.
-'''''The Torture Garden''''' ([fr: ''Le Jardin des supplices'') is a [[novel]] written by the French journalist, novelist and playwright [[Octave Mirbeau]] and was first published in [[1899]], during the [[Dreyfus Affair]]. The novel is ironically dedicated : "To the priests, the soldiers, the judges, to those people who educate, instruct and govern men, I dedicate these pages of Murder and Blood."
-Published at the height of the Dreyfus Affair, Mirbeau’s novel is a loosely assembled reworking of texts composed at different eras, featuring different styles, and showcasing different characters. Beginning with material stemming from articles on the 'Law of Murder' discussed in the "Frontispice" ("The Manuscript"), the novel continues with a farcical critique of French politics as seen in "En Mission" ("The Mission") and then moves on to an account of a visit to a Cantonese prison by a narrator accompanied by the sadist/hysteric Clara, who delights in witnessing flayings, crucifixions and explaining the beauty of torture to her companion ("Le Jardin des supplices", "The Garden").
-There is an [[allegory]] about the hypocrisy of European '[[civilisation]]' and about the 'Law of Murder'. There is also a denunciation of bloody French and English colonialism and a ferocious attack on what Mirbeau saw as the corrupt morality of [[bourgeois]] [[capitalist]] society and the [[state]], which are based on murder.
-But Mirbeau’s multiple transgressions of the rules of verisimilitude, his disregard for novelistic convention problematize the issue of the novel’s genre affiliation and leave open the question of the author’s moral message, leaving the readers of today in a state of wonderment, perplexity, and shock.
-====Alfred de Musset ====
-:[[Alfred de Musset ]]
-'''Alfred Louis Charles de Musset''', ([[December 11]], [[1810]] &ndash; [[May 2]], [[1857]]) was a [[France|French]] [[dramatist]], [[poet]], and [[novelist]], best-known for ''[[Les Caprices de Marianne]]'', an [[1833]] play which served as the basis for [[Jean Renoir]]'s [[1939]] [[film]], ''[[The Rules of the Game]]''; and his series of poems ''[[Les Nuits]]''. The tale of his celebrated love affair with [[George Sand]], which lasted from [[1833]] to [[1835]], is told from his point of view in his [[autobiography|autobiographical]] novel, ''[[Confession d'un enfant du siècle]],'' and from her point of view in her ''[[Elle et lui]]''.
-====Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly====
-:[[Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly]]
-'''Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly''' ([[November 2]], [[1808]] &ndash; [[April 23]], [[1889]]), was a [[French literature|French novelist]] and [[short story]] writer. He specialised in a kind of [[Mystery (fiction)|mysterious tale]] that examines [[hidden agenda|hidden motivation]] and [[Insinuation|hinted]] [[evil]] bordering (but never crossing into) the [[Supernatural Horror in Literature|supernatural]]. He had a decisive influence on writers such as [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam]], [[Henry James]] and [[Proust]]. His best-known collection is ''[[Les Diaboliques (book)|The She-Devils]]'', which includes the cult classic ''[[Happiness in Crime]]'' and is still in print from [[Dedalus Books]]. Most recently his ''[[Une vieille maîtresse]]'' (''An Elderly Mistress'', 1851) was adapted to [[Film|cinema]] by French director [[Catherine Breillat]]: its English title is ''[[The Last Mistress]]''.
-He is variously lumped in with the Late [[French Romantics]], [[The Decadents]], [[Symbolists]] and is included in the ''[[Genealogy of the Cruel Tale]]'' and ''[[The Romantic Agony]]''. He is considered a practitioner of the [[Fantastique]] and a [[dandy]].
-====Pierre Louÿs====
-:[[Pierre Louÿs]]
-'''Pierre Louÿs''' ([[December 10]], [[1870]], [[Ghent]] - [[June 6]], [[1925]], [[Paris]]) was a Belgian [[bibliophile]], [[erotomaniac]], [[poet]] and [[novelist]], noted for his [[lesbian]] themed [[erotica]]. His best known works are the [[literary mystification]] ''[[Songs of Bilitis]]'' (1894) which was the inspiration for ''[[Bilitis (film)|Bilitis]]'' (1977), a [[softcore]] film by [[David Hamilton]]; and  ''[[Woman and Puppet]]'' (1898), adapted for film by [[Josef von Sternberg]] as ''[[The Devil is a Woman]]'' (1935)  and as ''[[That Obscure Object of Desire]]'' (1977) by [[Luis Buñuel]].
-Pierre Louÿs is better known nowadays for his friendships rather than his own poetry: he was one of the composer [[Claude Debussy]]'s closest friends, he travelled with [[André Gide]], he attended [[Mallarmé]]'s soirees, and campaigned for [[Oscar Wilde]]'s release from prison.
-[[Georges Pichard]] adapted several works of Louÿs to [[graphic novel]] format, including ''[[The She-devils]]'' (1926).
-'''''The Songs of Bilitis''''' (''Les Chansons de Bilitis''; Paris, [[1894]]) is a collection of [[erotic]] [[poetry]] by [[Pierre Louÿs]] with strong [[lesbian]] themes.
-The book's [[sensual]] poems are in the manner of [[Sappho]]; the introduction claims they were found on the walls of a [[tomb]] in [[Cyprus]], written by a woman of [[Ancient Greece]] called '''Bilitis''', a [[courtesan]] and contemporary of Sappho, to whose 'life' Louÿs dedicated a small section of his book. On publication, the volume deceived even the most expert of scholars. However, the poems were actually clever [[fabulation]]s, authored by Louÿs himself, but are still considered important literature.
-In [[1977]], a French film titled ''Bilitis'' was released, directed by [[David Hamilton (British photographer)|David Hamilton]].  It had little connection with Pierre Louÿs' original, being concerned with a twentieth century girl and her [[sexual awakening]].
-'''''Trois Filles de leurs mères''''' ('''The She-Devils''', literally ''Three girls and their mother'') is a French [[erotic novel]] by  [[Pierre Louÿs]] written in [[1910]] and published [[clandestine]]ly in  [[1926]]. [[Susan Sontag]] in her essay the ''[[Pornographic Imagination]]'' describes it as one of the few works of erotic literature to deserve true literary status. It was adapted for film by [[José Bénazéraf]] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1007968/] and as a graphic novel by [[Georges Pichard]]. [[André Pieyre de Mandiargues]] described it as Pierre Louÿs's masterpiece.
-From the publisher [[Creation Books]]:
-:A mother and her three daughters...sharing their [[inexhaustible]] [[sexual favour]]s between the same young man, each other, and anyone else who enters their web of [[depravity]]. From a [[chance encounter]] on the stairway with a [[voluptuous]] young girl, the narrator is drawn to become the [[plaything]] of four [[rapacious]] females, experiencing them all in various combinations of increasingly wild [[debauchery]], until they one day vanish as mysteriously as they had appeared.
-[[Kathleen Murphy]] remarks about the novel that it "remains Pierre Louys's most [[intense]], [[claustrophobic]] work; a study of [[sexual obsession]] and [[monomania]] unsurpassed in its depictions of [[carnal]] [[excess]], [[unbridled]] lust and [[limitless]] [[perversity]]."
-Inspired by the relationship Louÿs had with [[José María de Heredia]] and her three daughters (with one of whom (the youngest) he had been married) known for their loose morals, the author presents us with a man « X*** », who is visited by a 36-year-old prostitute, Teresa, and her three daughters, Mauricette, Lili and Charlotte.
-====Printers of erotica in the late 1800s====
-Printers of erotica in the late 1800s: [[Jules Gay]], [[Henry Kistemaeckers]], [[Auguste Poulet-Malassis]], [[Isidore Liseux]]
-====Theory====
-====Alfred Binet====
-:[[Alfred Binet]]
-'''Alfred Binet''' ([[July 8]], [[1857]] &ndash; [[October 18]], [[1911]]), [[French psychologist]] and [[inventor]] of the first usable [[IQ test]]. He also wrote "[[Du Fétichisme dans l’amour]]." '''''Du Fétichisme dans l’amour''''' is an essay by [[Alfred Binet]] first published in the Revue philosophique of [[1887]]. It was the first text to apply the word [[fetishism]] in a sexual context.
-===Visual arts===
-:''[[academic art]]''
-[[Image:Big Pool of Bursa by Jean Leon Gerome.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Grand bath at Bursa]]'' ([[1885]]) by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]]]]
-[[Image:The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel.jpg|right|thumb|200px|
-''[[The Birth of Venus]]'' ([[1863]]) [[Alexandre Cabanel]]]]
-'''Academic art''' is a style of [[painting]] and [[sculpture]] produced under the influence of European [[academy|academies]] or universities.
-Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French [[Académie des beaux-arts]], which practiced under the movements of [[Neoclassicism]] and [[Romanticism]], and the art that followed these two movements in the attempt to synthesize both of  their styles, and which is best reflected by the paintings of [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], [[Thomas Couture]], and [[Hans Makart]]. In this context it is often called "academism", "academicism", "[[L'art pompier]]", and "eclecticism", and sometimes linked with "[[historicism]]" and "[[syncretism]]".
-'''L'art pompier''', literally "Fireman Art", is a derisory late nineteenth century French term for large "official" [[academic art]] paintings of the time, especially historical or allegorical ones. It derives from the fancy helmets, with horse-hair tails, worn at the time by French firemen - now only for parades - which are fatally similar to the Greek-style helmets often worn in such works by allegorical personifications, classical warriors, or Napoleonic cavalry.  It also suggests half-puns in French with ''Pompéin'' ("from [[Pompeii]]"), and ''pompeux'' ("pompous").  Pompier art was seen by those who used the term as the epitome of the values of the [[bourgeoisie]], and as insincere and overblown.
-L'art Pompier (a term supporters mostly avoid) has enjoyed something of a critical revival in the last twenty years, partly caused by the new [[Musée d'Orsay]] in Paris, where it is displayed on more equal terms with the [[Impressionists]] and [[Realist painter]]s of the period.
-The ''Manifeste Pompier'' (Fireman Manifesto) by Louis-Marie Lecharny, was published in Paris in 1990. He also wrote ''L'art Pompier'' (1998).
-[[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], [[Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry]], [[Alfred Agache (painter)|Alfred Agache]], [[Alexandre Cabanel]] and [[Thomas Couture]] are among the classic Pompier artists.
-==== Ingres====
-:''[[Ingres]]''
-[[Image:The Great Odalisque by Ingres.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[The Great Odalisque]] ([[1814]]) by [[Ingres]]]]
-[[Image:Turkish Bath by Ingres.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[The Turkish Bath]]'' ([[1862]]) - [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]]]]
-'''Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres''' ([[August 29]], [[1780]] - [[January 14]], [[1867]]) was a [[France|French]] [[Neoclassical]] [[painter]]. Although he thought of himself as a painter of history in the tradition of [[Nicolas Poussin]] and [[Jacques-Louis David]], by the end of his life it was his [[portrait]]s, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest legacy.
-'''''La grande odalisque''''' is a painting by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]] painted in [[1814]] and sent to the [[Paris Salon]] of [[1819]]. It was met with hostility by the critics, who ridiculed its radically [[attenuated]] modeling as well as Ingres's habitual anatomical distortions of the [[female nude]].
-When [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]], director of the French ''Académie de peinture'' painted a highly-colored vision of a [[turkish bath]] (''illustration, right''), he made his [[eroticize]]d [[Orient]] publicly acceptable by his diffuse generalizing of the female forms, who might all have been of the same model. If his [[painting]] had simply been retitled "In a Paris Brothel," it would have been [[controversial|far less acceptable]]. Sensuality was seen as acceptable in the [[exotic]] Orient.
-''The Turkish Bath'' was finished in a rectangular format in [[1859]], was revised in [[1860]] before being turned into a ''[[tondo]]''. Ingres signed and dated it in [[1862]], although he made additional revisions in [[1863]]. (Prat, 2004, p. 90.)
-====Félicien Rops====
-:''[[Félicien Rops]]''
-[[Image:Pornokrates.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Pornokrates]]'' ([[1879]]) - [[Félicien Rops]], the defining [[painting]] of the [[Decadent movement]]]]
-'''Félicien Rops''' ([[July 7]], [[1833]] - [[August 23]], [[1898]]) was a [[Belgian artist]], and [[printmaker]] in [[etching]] and [[aquatint]].  He is best known for his painting ''[[Pornokrates]]'' and the frontispiece to ''[[Les Épaves]]'' by [[Charles Baudelaire]].
-Rops was born in [[Namur (city)|Namur]] in 1833, and was educated at the [[University of Brussels]].  Rops's forte was drawing more than painting in oils; he first won fame as a [[caricature|caricaturist]].  He met [[Charles Baudelaire]] towards the end of Baudelaire's life in [[1864]], and Baudelaire left an impression upon him that lasted until the end of his days.  Rops created the [[frontispiece]] for Baudelaire's ''[[Les Epaves]]'', a selection of poems from ''[[Les Fleurs du mal]]'' that had been [[censorship|censored]] in [[France]], and which therefore were published in Belgium.
-Rops's association with Baudelaire and with the art he represented won his work the admiration of many other writers, including [[Theophile Gautier|Théophile Gautier]], [[Alfred de Musset]], [[Stéphane Mallarmé]], [[Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly]], and  [[Joséphin Péladan]].  He was closely associated with the literary movement of [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] and [[Decadent movement|Decadence]].  Like the works of the authors whose poetry he illustrated, his work tends to mingle [[Human sexual behavior|sex]], [[Death in culture|death]], and [[Satan]]ic images.
-'''''Pornokrates''''', also known as ''Pornocratie'', is a [[1879]] painting by [[Félicien Rops]].
-It depicts a [[blindfold]]ed woman being led by a [[pig]] on a leash. For some the [[pig]] with the golden tail represents the image of [[luxury]] and [[lucre]] steering the woman, whose only excuse is her [[blindness]]; for others, it is the image of man, [[bestial]] and [[stupid]], [[male submission|kept in check by the woman]]. This image of the pig, as well as those of the [[puppet]] and the [[pierrot]] are shared by many of Rops’s contemporaries.
-''Pornokrates'' heralds the advent to the art world of the contemporary woman which Rops glorified. She is characterised by her [[arrogance]], her [[composure]] and her [[ruthless]]ness.
-In a letter to his friend Henri Liesse, he described the painting:
-:"My ''Pornocratie'' is complete. This drawing delights me. I would like to show you this beautiful naked girl, clad only in black shoes and gloves in silk, leather and velvet, her hair styled. Wearing a [[blindfold]] she walks on a marble stage, guided by a [[pig]] with a "golden tail" across a blue sky. Three loves - ancient loves - vanish in tears (...) I did this in four days in a room of blue satin, in an overheated apartment, full of different smells, where the [[opopanax]] and [[cyclamen]] gave me a slight fever conducive towards production or even towards reproduction". --Letter from Rops to [[Henri Liesse]], 1879.
-====Edouard Manet====
-:''[[Edouard Manet]]''
-[[Image:Olympia (1863) by Édouard Manet.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]'' by [[Édouard Manet]], painted in [[1863]], it stirred an [[uproar]] when it was first exhibited at the [[1865]] [[Paris Salon]]. Today, it is considered as the start of [[modern art]].]]
-[[Image:The Luncheon on the Grass by Manet.jpg|thumb|right|200px|'''''The Luncheon on the Grass''''' ''(Le déjeuner sur l'herbe)'', originally titled ''The Bath'' ''(Le Bain)'', is an oil on canvas painting by [[Édouard Manet]]. Painted between [[1862]] and [[1863]] , the juxtaposition of a [[Nude female/dressed male|female nude with fully dressed men]] sparked controversy when the work was first exhibited at the [[Salon des Refusés]]]]
-[[Image:Nana by Manet.jpg|thumb|right|200px|In [[1877]], French artist [[Édouard Manet]] exhibited "[[Nana]]", a life-size portrayal of a [[courtesan]] in [[undergarment]]s, standing before her [[Nude female/dressed male|fully clothed gentleman]] caller. The model for it was the popular courtesan [[Henriette Hauser]]. ]]
-'''Édouard Manet''' ([[January 23]] [[1832]] &ndash; [[April 30]] [[1883]]) was a [[French painter]].  One of the first [[nineteenth century]] artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal  figure in the transition from [[Realism (visual arts)|Realism]] to [[Impressionism]]. His early masterworks ''[[The Luncheon on the Grass]]'' and ''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]'' engendered great controversy, and served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism—today these are considered [[watershed]] paintings that mark the genesis of [[modern art]].
-'''''Olympia''''' is an oil on canvas painting by [[Édouard Manet]] in the [[Realism (visual arts)|Realism]] style. Painted in [[1863 in art|1863]], it stirred an [[uproar]] when it was first exhibited at the [[1865 Paris Salon]], because the [[gaze]] of the [[goddess]] depicted was not that of a [[Venus]], but of a [[Nana]].
-Though Manet's ''[[Le déjeuner sur l'herbe|The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe)]]'' sparked controversy in [[1863]], his ''Olympia'' stirred an even bigger uproar when it was first exhibited at the [[1865]] [[Paris Salon]]. Conservatives condemned the work as "immoral" and "vulgar." Journalist [[Antonin Proust]] later recalled,
-:''If the canvas of the Olympia was not destroyed, it is only because of the precautions that were taken by the administration.''
-However, the work had proponents as well. [[Emile Zola]] quickly proclaimed it Manet's "masterpiece" and added,
-:''When other artists correct nature by painting Venus they lie. Manet asked himself why he should lie. Why not tell the truth?''
-The negative criticism included that of [[Jules Claretie]], who in ''[[L'Artiste]]'' in May 1865 identified Olympia as "a [[courtesan]] no doubt" (une courtisane sans doute.) A few days earlier, ''Le monde illustré'' used a poem by [[Zacharie Astruc]] to brand this "auguste jeune fille," a [[courtesan]].
-'''''The Luncheon on the Grass''''' ''(Le déjeuner sur l'herbe)'', originally titled ''The Bath'' ''(Le Bain)'', is an oil on canvas painting by [[Édouard Manet]]. Painted between [[1862]] and [[1863]] , the juxtaposition of a [[Nude female/dressed male|female nude with fully dressed men]] sparked controversy when the work was first exhibited at the [[Salon des Refusés]], for in [[1863]]; [[nudes]] were acceptable in under the [[Pretexts for nudity in art|pretext]] of historical [[allegory|allegories]], but to show them in common settings was [[forbidden]]. The nude in Manet's painting was no [[nymph]], or mythological being ... she was a modern Parisian woman cast into a contemporary setting with two clothed men. Many found this to be quite [[vulgar]]. Praised by contemporaries such as Emile Zola who said in 1867: "Painters, and especially Édouard Manet, who is an analytic painter, do not share the masses' obsession with the subject: to them, the subject is only a pretext to paint, whereas for the masses only the subject exists.", the piece is now in the [[Musée d'Orsay]], [[Paris]]
-In [[1877]], French artist [[Edouard Manet]] exhibited "Nana", a life-size portrayal of an [[prostitute]] in [[undergarment]]s, standing before her [[Nude female/dressed male|fully clothed gentleman]] caller. The model for it was the popular courtesan [[Henriette Hauser]]. Manet was so much taken with the description of the "precociously immoral" [[Nana]] in Zola's ''[[L'Assommoir]]'' that he gave the title "Nana" to his portrait of Henriette Hauser. The painting was rejected by the hanging committee for the [[Paris Salon]] of [[1877]].
-====Gustave Courbet====
-[[Image:The Origin of the World.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[The Origin of the World]]'' ([[1866]]) by [[Gustave Courbet]]]]
-:''[[Gustave Courbet]]''
-Jean Désiré '''Gustave Courbet''' ([[10 June]] [[1819]] &ndash; [[31 December]] [[1877]]) was a [[French painter]] who led the [[realism (arts)|Realist movement]] in [[19th-century French painting]], best-known today paintings ''[[The Origin of the World]]'', ''[[The Stonebreakers]]'' and ''[[Burial at Ornans]]''.
-'''''L’Origine du monde''''' (''The Origin of the World'') is an oil on canvas painted by [[Gustave Courbet]] in [[1866]]. Measuring about 46&nbsp;cm by 55&nbsp;cm (18.1 by 21.7 inches), it depicts the close-up view of the [[Female genitalia|genitals]] and [[abdomen]] of a [[naked woman]], lying on a bed and [[beaver shot|spreading her legs]].
-The framing of the scene, between the thighs and the chest, emphasizes the [[eroticism]] of the work. Moreover, an [[erection|erect]] [[nipple]] and the redness of the [[labia]] suggest that the model just had a sexual encounter.
-The painting was not publicly exhibited until the mid-1990s.
-During the 19th century, the display of the nude body underwent a revolution whose main activists were Courbet and [[Édouard Manet|Manet]]. Courbet rejected academic painting and its smooth, idealised nudes, but he also directly recriminated the hypocritical social conventions of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]], where [[eroticism]] and even [[pornography]] were acceptable in [[mythology|mythological]] or oneiric paintings.
-Courbet later insisted he never lied in his paintings, and his [[realism (arts)|realism]] pushed the limits of what was considered presentable. With ''L'Origine du monde'' he has made even more explicit the eroticism of Manet's [[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]. [[Maxime Du Camp]], in a harsh tirade, reported his visit of the work’s purchaser, and his sight of a painting “giving realism’s last word”.
-In [[1994|February 1994]] the novel ''Adorations perpétuelles'' (''Perpetual Adorations'') by [[Jacques Henric]], reproduced ''L’Origine du monde'' on its cover. Police visited several French bookshops to have them withdraw the book from their windows. A few proprietors, such as the ''Rome'' bookshop in [[Clermont-Ferrand]], maintained the book, but others such as ''Les Sandales d’Empédocle'' in [[Besançon]] complied, and some voluntarily removed it. The author was saddened by these events: “A few years ago, bookshops were counter-powers. When the Ministry of Interior, in [[1970]], banned [[Pierre Guyotat]]’s book, ''Eden, Eden, Eden'', bookshops had been resistance places. Today, they anticipate censorship…”.
-Although moral standards and resulting taboos regarding the artistic display of nudity have evolved since Courbet, owing especially to [[photography]] and [[film|cinema]], the painting remained provocative. Its arrival at the [[Musée d'Orsay]] caused high excitement. A guard was permanently assigned to the monitoring of this sole work, to observe the reactions of the public.
-====Achille Devéria====
-:''[[Achille Devéria]]''
-'''Achille Jacques-Jean-Marie Devéria''' ([[February 6]], [[1800]] &ndash; [[December 23]], [[1857]]) was a [[France|French]] [[painter]] and [[lithographer]]. His father was a civil employee of the navy and student of [[Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson|Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson]] and [[Louis Lafitte]] ([[1770]]&ndash;[[1828]]).
-In [[1822]], he began exhibiting at the [[Paris Salon]]. At some point, he opened an art school together with his brother [[Eugène Devéria|Eugène]], who was also a painter.
-By [[1830]] Devéria had become a successful [[illustrator]] and had published a many lithographs in form of notebooks and albums (e.g. his illustrations to [[Goethe]]'s ''[[Faust]]'', [[1828]]) and romantic novels. He also produced many [[engraving]]s of [[libertine]] contents.
-His experience in the art of the [[vignette]] and ''maniere noire'' (dark manner) influenced his numerous lithographs, most of which were issued by his father-in-law, [[Charles-Etienne Motte]] ([[1785]]&ndash;[[1836]]). Most of his work consisted of "pseudo-historical, pious, sentimental or erotic scenes." (Wright) Since he rarely depicted tragic or grave [[Theme (visual arts)|theme]]s, he appears less [[Romanticism|Romantic]] than many other artists of the time.
-====Eugène le Poitevin====
-:''[[Eugène le Poitevin]]''
-'''Eugène le Poitevin'''([[1806]] - [[1870]])  was a French artist, author of  ''[[Les Diableries Erotiques]]''.
-'''''Les Diableries Erotiques''''' are a series of [[lithograph]]s by French artist [[Eugène le Poitevin]], depicting [[devil]]s and other diabolic creatures engaging in various [[shenanigan]]s on [[young girl]]s. Circa [[1830s]].
-==== Jean-Jacques Lequeu ====
-:''[[Jean-Jacques Lequeu]]''
-'''Jean-Jacques Lequeu''' ([[Rouen]], [[September 14]] [[1757]] – [[28 March]] [[1826]]) was a [[France|French]] [[technical drawing|draughtsman]] and [[Visionary architecture |visionary architect]].
-Born in [[Rouen]], he won a scholarship to go to [[Paris]], but following the [[French revolution]] his architectural career never took off.
-He spent time preparing the ''Architecture Civile'', a book intended for publication, but which was never published. Most of his drawings can be found at the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]. Some of them are sexually explicit (''[[Le Dieu Priape]]'' [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7703791r] (ca. 1779 - 1795) which shows a rather large male [[phallus]] and ''Trois images du sexe féminin'') and are kept in the ''[[Les livres de l'Enfer|Enfer]]'' of the library. Most of these drawings have been reproduced in Duboy's book but can also be found in ''[[Sade / Surreal]]''.
-==== Félix Vallotton ====
-[[Image:The_Abduction_of_Europe_by_Valloton,_1908.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Abduction]] of [[Europa (mythology)|Europe]]'' ([[1908]]) by [[Félix Vallotton]]]]
-[[Image:Felix Vallotton Study of Buttocks.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Study of Buttocks]] (c. [[1884]]) by [[Félix Vallotton]]]]
-'''Félix Vallotton''' ([[December 28]] [[1865]]–[[December 29]] [[1925]]) was a [[Swiss painter]] and graphic artist, an important figure in the development of the modern [[woodcut]], recently celebrated in the 2007-08 retrospective ''[[Félix Vallotton: An Idyll at the Edge]]'' held in Zürich and Hamburg.
 == 20th century ==
 :''[[French striptease]], [[20th century French erotica]]''
-The 20th century saw new technologies such as photography and cinema, which led to [[erotic photography]] and [[erotic film]]s. [[Surrealism]] was one of the most remarkable developments as artistic movement in the 20th century, its [[penchant]] for eroticism was in evidence in [[surrealist literature]] and [[surrealist art]]. See ''[[Sade/Surreal]]'' and [[Sade's influence on Surrealism]]. See also the erotic photography of [[Man Ray]] and the paintings of [[Salvador Dali]].
+The 20th century saw new technologies such as photography and cinema, which led to [[erotic photography]] and [[erotic film]]s. [[Surrealism]] was one of the most remarkable developments as artistic movement in the 20th century, its [[penchant]] for eroticism was in evidence in [[surrealist literature]] and [[surrealist art]]. See ''[[Sade/Surreal]]'' and [[Sade's influence on Surrealism]]. See also the erotic photography of [[Man Ray]] and the paintings of [[Salvador Dali]], and the work of [[André Masson]] and of [[Hans Bellmer]].
-Also there is the work of [[André Masson]] and of [[Hans Bellmer]].
-=== Literature ===
-==== Guillaume Apollinaire====
-:''[[Guillaume Apollinaire]]''
-* ''[[Les Onze Mille Verges]]'', 1907
-* ''[[Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan (roman)|Les Exploits d'un jeune don Juan]]'', 1911
-'''Guillaume Apollinaire'''  ([[August 26]], [[1880]] &ndash; [[November 9]], [[1918]]) was a [[French poet]], [[writer]], and [[art critic]] born in Italy to a Polish mother. Among the [[foremost]] poets of the early 20th century, he is credited with coining the word [[surrealism]] and writing one of the earliest works described as [[surrealist]], the [[play]] ''[[Les Mamelles de Tirésias]]'' ([[1917]]). Two years after being wounded in [[World War I]], he died at 38 of the [[Spanish flu]] during a pandemic.
-'''''Les Onze mille verges''''' (''The eleven thousand rods'') is an [[erotic novel]] by [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] - written around 1906-1907 (the publication is neither signed nor dated). The novel was banned from its release in [[1907]] until [[1970]], various [[clandestine]] printings of it circulated widely for many years. Apollinaire never publicly acknowledged authorship of the novel.
-''[[The Eleven Thousand Rods]]'' is about a Romanian prince who leaves Bucharest to find the perfect female. The book has elements of [[sadism]], [[homosexuality]], [[paedophilia]], [[necrophilia]], [[coprophilia]] and satirical commentary on French government officials, theater administrators, police and journalists.
-'''''Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan''''' is a [[French novel]] by [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] first published in [[1911]]. It was adapted as an [[Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan (film) |eponymous film]] in 1987, and as a [[graphic novel]] by [[Georges Pichard]].
-''The Exploits of a Young Don Juan'' (Les exploits d'un jeune Don Juan), in which the 15-year-old [[Don Juan|hero]] fathers three children with various members of his entourage, including his aunt. The book was made into a [[The Exploits of a Young Don Juan|film]] by Gianfranco Mingozzi in 1987.
-==== Louis Aragon====
-:''[[Louis Aragon]]''
-* ''[[Le Con d'Irène]]'', roman, [[Louis Aragon]], 1928
-'''Louis Aragon''' ([[October 3]], [[1897]] &ndash; [[December 24]], [[1982]]), [[France|French]] [[poet]] and [[novelist]], a long-time political supporter of the [[French Communist Party|communist party]] and prominent member of the [[Surrealist]]s.
-'''''Irene's Cunt''''' (French: ''Le Con d’Irène'') is an [[erotic novel]] by [[Louis Aragon]] first published [[clandestine]]ly in [[1928]] under the [[pseudonym]] of d’Albert de Routisie in order to avoid censorship. [[Régine Deforges]] will republish this French novel in [[1968]] under the bowlderized title ''Irène'' ; the book will nevertheless be seized by the authorities for its erotic content.
-The original edition featured five [[Eau forte|eaux fortes]] [[illustration]]s by [[André Masson]] and was published on 150 copies.
-==== Georges Bataille ====
-:''[[Georges Bataille]]''
-* ''[[Le Mort]]'', récit, [[Georges Bataille]], Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1967
-* ''[[Ma mère]]'', récit, [[Georges Bataille]]
-* ''[[Le bleu du ciel]]'', récit, [[Georges Bataille]]
-* ''[[L'abbé C]]'', récit, [[Georges Bataille]]
-* ''[[Histoire de l’œil]]'', récit, [[Georges Bataille]], Paris, Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1967
-'''Georges Bataille''' ([[September 10]], [[1897]] – [[July 9]], [[1962]]) was a [[French writer]], [[anthropologist]], [[archivist]] and [[philosopher]] best known for his novella ''[[Story of the Eye]]''. Philosophically, he traced the intimate connections between [[sex]] and [[death]] and is sometimes known as the [[metaphysics|metaphysician]] of [[evil]]. Though never an official member of [[Surrealism]], Bataille described himself as Surrealism’s ‘enemy from within…’. More than Breton, he influenced [[Twentieth-century French philosophy|1960s French theorists]] and mid-1980s American [[art criticism|art critics]]. His [[macabre]] interests can be deduced from his reportedly daily gazing at the [[Death by a Thousand Cuts]] photographs later published in his ''[[Tears of Eros]]'' thematic art compendium. Recently his novel ''[[Ma mère|My Mother]]'' was [[Ma mère (film)|adapted for film]] by [[Christophe Honoré]] and in 2006 his visionary work was celebrated at the '[[Undercover Surrealism]]' exhibition.
-'''''Histoire de l'oeil''''' (Eng:Story of the Eye) is a [[novella]] written by [[Georges Bataille]] that details the [[Psychosexual_development|sexual experimentation]] of two [[Adolescent sexuality|teenage lovers]], and their increasing [[perversion]]. It is narrated by the young man looking back on his experiences. In its recent Penguin edition (2001), it includes  ''[[Metaphor of the Eye]]'', a commentary from the late [[Roland Barthes]] and notes by [[Susan Sontag]] on the significance of Bataille's novella for literary and cultural depictions of human sexuality. ''Story of the Eye'' also is one of the key texts in Sontag's [[nobrow]] essay ''[[The Pornographic Imagination]]''.
-'''''Ma mère''''' (English: My Mother) is a novella by [[Georges Bataille]], posthumously and unfinishedly published in [[1966]]. It was loosely adapted for a feature film by [[Christophe Honoré]] in 2004. See ''[[Ma mère (film)]]''. ''My Mother'' is a [[bildungsroman]] of a young man's [[sexual initiation]] and corruption by his mother. Its latest English language publication was bundled in ''[[My Mother, Madame Edwarda and The Dead Man]]''.
-==== Violette Leduc ====
-:''[[Violette Leduc]]''
-'''Violette Leduc''' ([[April 7]], [[1907]] – [[May 28]], [[1972]]) was a [[France|French]] author noted for such novels as ''[[Thérèse and Isabelle]]'' and ''[[La Bâtarde]]''. In [[1968]] [[American director]] [[Radley Metzger]] made a film of Leduc's novel ''[[Thérèse and Isabelle]]''.  The film was a commercial feature about adolescent [[lesbian]] love, starring [[Essy Persson]] and [[Anna Gael]].
-'''''Thérèse et Isabelle''''' is a  [[1966]] novel by [[Violette Leduc]]. In [[1968]] [[Radley Metzger]] adapted the novel for film under the German title ''Therese und Isabelle''.  The film was a commercial feature about [[adolescent]] [[Lesbianism in erotica|lesbian love]], starring [[Essy Persson]] and [[Anna Gael]]. In the French countryside an elegant woman pays a nostalgic visit to her adolescent girl’s school, where she passionately remembers her first fiery and forbidden romance...the story of ''Therese and Isabelle''. The tenderness of these two lonely girls' erotic awakenings sensuously blossoms amidst the hothouse atmosphere of their repressive environment. Having both experienced the clumsy and cruel lovemaking attempts of the local [[Lothario]], Therese and Isabelle grow closer and closer to each other - until that fateful moment when they become lovers.
-==== Jean Genet ====
-:''[[Jean Genet]]''
-:"In the [[confessional]], [[semi-autobiographical]] novels of [[Jean Genet]], such as ''[[Our Lady of the Flowers]]'' (1944) and ''[[The Thief's Journal]]'' (1949), the author promulgates the [[Dostoyevskian]] [[immoralist]] philosophy and inverted value system of hardened criminals, con men, and homosexual drifters, a few of whom appear to be bona fide [[psychopath]]s.  The most notorious of Genet's nihilists is the sailor [[Georges Querelle]] in his novel ''[[Querelle de Brest]]'' (1947).  Querelle is a homosexual [[serial killer]] with [[sadomasochism|sadomasochistic]] tastes who betrays and murders several lovers and acquaintances while on [[shore leave]] in the city of [[Brest, France|Brest]]." --[[Sholem Stein]]
-'''Jean Genet''' ([[December 19]], [[1910]] – [[April 15]], [[1986]]), was a [[French writer]] and later [[political activism|political activist]]. Early in his life he was a [[vagabond]] and [[petty]] [[criminal]]; later in life, Genet wrote novels, plays, poems, and essays, including ''[[Querelle de Brest]]'', ''[[The Thief's Journal]]'', ''[[Our Lady of the Flowers]]'', ''[[The Balcony]]'', ''[[The Blacks (play)|The Blacks]]'' and ''[[The Maids]]''.
-'''''Our Lady of the Flowers''''' is the debut novel of [[French literature|French writer]] [[Jean Genet]], published in [[1944]] in French as ''Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs''. The [[stream of consciousness|free-flowing]], poetic novel is a largely [[autobiographical]] account of a man's journey through the [[Parisian]] [[underworld]]. The characters are drawn after their real-life counterparts, who are mostly [[homosexual]]s living on the [[fringe]]s of society.
-'''''The Maids''''' is a [[1947]] play by the French writer [[Jean Genet]].
-Genet based his play on the infamous [[Papin sisters]], Lea and Christine, who brutally murdered their employer and her daughter in [[Le Mans]], [[France]], in [[1933]].  The story can be read as an [[absurdism|absurdist]] exposition on the intricate [[power (sociology)|power]] dynamic that exists between unequals.  [[Solange]] and Claire are two housemaids who construct elaborate [[sadomasochism|sadomasochistic]] rituals when their mistress (Madame) is away.
-The focus of their Theatre is the murder of Madame and they take turns portraying either side of the power divide. The deliberate pace and devotion to detail guarantees that they always fail to actualize their fantasies by ceremoniously "killing" Madame at the ritual's denouement.
-==== Anaïs Nin ====
-:''[[Anaïs Nin]]''
-'''Anaïs Nin''' ([[February 21]] [[1903]] - [[January 14]] [[1977]]) was a [[France|French]]-born [[author]] who became famous for her posthumously published [[personal journal]]s. Nin is hailed by many critics as one of the finest writers of [[female erotica]]. She was one of the first women to  explore fully the realm of erotic writing. Before her, erotica written by women was rare, with a few notable exceptions, such as the work of [[Kate Chopin]]. Titles include ''[[Delta of Venus]]'' and ''[[Little Birds]]'', which explores male and [[female sexuality]] from a female perspective.
-Her affair with [[Henry Miller]] was the subject of the film ''[[Henry & June]]''.
-'''''Delta of Venus''''' is a book by [[Anaïs Nin]]. It was first published in [[1978]]. In 1995 a film version of the book was directed by [[Zalman King]]. There are multiple short stories in this work with certain important characters reappearing throughout.  She deals with many different sexual themes, while maintaining the balance of her life's work -- the study and description of woman.
-The collection of short stories that makes up this anthology were written during the 1940s for a private client known simply as '[[Collector]]'. This 'Collector' commissioned Nin, along with other now well-known writers (including [[Henry Miller]]), to produce erotic fiction for his private consumption. Despite being told to leave poetic language aside and concentrate on [[graphic]], [[sexually explicit]] scenarios, Nin was able to give these stories a literary flourish and a layer of images and ideas beyond the [[pornographic]].
-The stories range in length from less than a page to one hundred times that, and are tied together not just by their sexual premises, but also by Nin's distinct style and feminine viewpoint.
-==== Histoire d'O====
-* ''[[Histoire d'O]]'', roman, [[Pauline Réage]], [[1954]]
-'''Anne Desclos''' ([[September 23]], [[1907]] - [[April 27]], [[1998]]) was a [[France|French]] journalist and novelist who wrote under the [[pseudonym|pseudonyms]]  '''Dominique Aury''' and '''Pauline Réage'''. She is best known as the author of ''[[Story of O]]''.
-'''''Histoire d'O''''' (English title: '''''Story of O''''') is an [[Erotic literature|erotic novel]]  about [[female submission]] and ultimate [[sexual objectification]] published [[Anonymity in fiction|anonymously]] in [[1954 in literature|1954]] by [[French literature|French]] author [[Anne Desclos]] under the [[pseudonym|pen name]] '''Pauline Réage'''. Desclos did not reveal herself to be the author until shortly before her death, forty years after its initial publication. Desclos said that she had written the novel as a series of [[love letter]]s to her lover [[Jean Paulhan]] who admired the work of the [[Marquis de Sade]].
-Published in [[French language|French]], by [[Jean-Jacques Pauvert]], it is the archetypical [[Sadism and masochism in fiction|sadomasochistic]] story of about a beautiful [[Paris]]ian fashion photographer, O, who is [[Blindfold|blindfolded]], [[Bondage (BDSM)|chained]], [[Flagellation|whipped]], [[Human branding|branded]], [[Piercing|pierced]], made to wear a [[mask]], and taught to be constantly available for [[Oral sex|oral]], [[Vaginal sex|vaginal]], and [[Anal sex|anal]] [[Sexual intercourse|intercourse]].
-O's lover, René, brings her to the chateau of Roissy, where she is trained to serve the men of an elite group. After that, O moves through a series of increasingly harsh masters, from René to Sir Stephen to the Commander. At the climax, O appears as a slave, nude but for an owl-like mask, before a large party of guests.
-A critical view of the novel is that it is about the ultimate [[sexual objectification|objectification]] of a woman. The heroine of the novel has the shortest possible name, consisting solely of the [[O|letter O]]. Although this is in fact a shortening of the name Odile, it could also stand for "''[[Sexual objectification|object]]''" or "''[[Body orifice|orifice]]''", an O being a symbolic representation of any "[[hole]]".
-==== L'Image====
-:''[[L'Image]]'', [[Jean de Berg]], Paris, Minuit, 1956
-'''Catherine Robbe-Grillet''' (née Rstakian) was born in [[1930]] in [[Paris]] is a [[French]] writer.
-A theatre and cinema actress and photographer, she has published [[BDSM]]-related writings under the pseudonyms '''Jean de Berg''' and '''Jeanne de Berg'''.
-''[[The Image (novel)|L'Image]]'', a sadomasochistic novel published in [[1956]] by [[Les Éditions de Minuit]], was written under the pseudonym Jean de Berg. [[Radley Metzger]] made the novel into a 1975 film, ''[[The Image]]'', also known as ''[[The Punishment of Anne]]''.
-'''''The Image''''' (or in French "L'Image") is a classic [[1956]] [[Sadism and masochism in novels|sadomasochistic]] [[erotic novel]], written by [[Catherine Robbe-Grillet]] and published under the pseudonym of [[Catherine Robbe-Grillet|Jean de Berg]]. It was made into a 1975 film, ''[[The Image]]'' directed by [[Radley Metzger]], also known as ''The Punishment of Anne''.
-==== Catherine Millet ====
-:''[[Catherine Millet]]''
-'''Catherine Millet''' (born [[April 1]], [[1948]]) is a French [[art critic]], [[curator]], and founder and editor of the magazine ''[[Art Press]]'', which focuses on [[modern art]]. She is best known as the author of the [[2002]] [[memoir]] ''[[The Sexual Life of Catherine M.]]''.
-'''''The Sexual Life of Catherine M.''''' by the French art critic [[Catherine Millet]] is an [[erotic novel]] first published in [[2001 in literature|2001]]. It is a [[semi-autobiographical]] account of the [[sexual life]] of the author.  An English translation by Adriana Hunter was published in [[2002]].  ''Sexual Life'' was the subject of mild controversy on both sides of the Atlantic.  It was reviewed by [[Edmund White]] as "the most explicit book about sex ever written by a woman".  The book details her sexual history, from childhood [[masturbation]] to an adult fascination with [[group sex]].
-====Publishers ====
-:''[[French publisher]]s: [[Obelisk Press]] - [[Jean-Jacques Pauvert]] - [[Olympia Press]] - [[Elvipress]]''
-'''Obelisk Press''' was an English-language press based in Paris, France, founded by [[Jack Kahane]]. It published novels that were to [[risqué]] to publish in the United States.
-[[Henry Miller]]'s 1934 novel, ''[[Tropic of Cancer]]'', had explicit sexual passages and could not be published in the United States; an edition was printed by the Obelisk Press in Paris and copies were smuggled into the United States.
-Obelisk also published [[Anais Nin]], [[James Joyce]], [[Parker Tyler]], [[Frank Harris]] and [[Lawrence Durrell]].
-'''Olympia Press''' was a [[Paris]]-based [[publisher]], launched in [[1953]] by [[Maurice Girodias]] as a rebadged version of the [[Obelisk Press]] he inherited from his father [[Jack Kahane]]. It published a mix of [[Erotic_fiction|erotic novels]] and [[avant-garde]] [[literary fiction|literary]] works, and is best known for the first print of [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s ''[[Lolita]]''.
-Olympia Press was also the first publisher willing to print the controversial [[William S. Burroughs]] novel, ''[[Naked Lunch]]''. Other notable works included [[J. P. Donleavy]]'s ''[[The Ginger Man]]''; the [[French language|French]] trilogy ''Molloy'', ''Malone Dies'' and ''[[The Unnamable (novel)|The Unnamable]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]]; ''A Tale of Satisfied Desire'' by [[Georges Bataille]] and ''[[Story of O]]'' by [[Pauline Réage]].
-'''Jean-Jacques Pauvert''' (born [[April 8]], [[1926]]) is a [[French publisher]], famous for publishing the work of [[de Sade]] in the late 1940s, sparking off a series of court cases that lasted eight years. He was the first publisher of ''[[Story of O]]'' in 1954 and the original publisher of Kenneth Anger's 1959 ''[[Hollywood Babylon]]''. He published George Bataille's ''[[Tears of Eros]]''. Between 1947 and 1970 his publishing house was the subject of about 20 [[obscenity]] trials. He was  assisted in his defense by the usual suspects of French intellectuals such as [[André Breton]], [[Georges Bataille]], [[Jean Cocteau]] and [[Jean Paulhan]].
-'''Eric Losfeld''' ([[1923]]? - [[1979]]) was a [[French publisher]] who had a reputation for publishing [[controversial]] material with his publishing imprints [[Éditions Arcanes]] (founded [[1952]]) and  [[Le Terrain Vague|Éditions Le Terrain Vague]] (founded [[1955]]). A rival [[clandestine]] French editor was [[Jean-Jacques Pauvert]]. The difference between them was -- in the words of [[Sarane Alexandrian]]: "Jean-Jacques Pauvert was an editor of [[surrealism]], Losfeld was a [[surrealist]] editor."
-=== Film ===
-[[Image:Amour eroticism and cinema.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Amour - érotisme & cinéma]]'' by [[Ado Kyrou]]]]
-:''[[French cinema]], [[French exploitation film]], [[erotic film]], [[exploitation film]]''
-:[[Stéphane Audran]], [[Brigitte Bardot]], [[Isabelle Huppert]], [[Jeanne Moreau]], [[Delphine Seyrig]]
-The depiction of sexuality in [[Mainstream film|mainstream cinema]] was at one time restricted by law and self-imposed industry standards. Films showing explicit sexual activity were, with very rare exceptions, confined to privately-distributed underground films or "porn loops". Beginning in the 1960s, however, mainstream cinema began pushing boundaries in terms of what is allowed on screen. Although the vast majority of sexual situations depicted in mainstream cinema are simulated, on rare occasions filmmakers have produced motion pictures in which actors were allowed (or instructed) to engage in some level of genuine sexual activity, up to and including [[sexual intercourse]]. The difference between these films and [[pornography]] is that, while such scenes might be considered [[pornographic]], the main intent of these films is usually not pornographic.
-The early beginnings of French erotic cinema are documented in ''[[The Good Old Naughty Days]]''.
-====The Lovers====
-:''[[The Lovers|The Lovers]]''
-'''''Les Amants''''' (The Lovers) is a [[1958 in film|1958]] [[French cinema|French]] [[drama film]] directed by [[Louis Malle]] and starring [[Jeanne Moreau]]. It was Malle's second feature film, made when he was 25 years old. A showing of the film in [[Cleveland Heights, Ohio|Cleveland Heights, Ohio's]] [[Coventry Village, Ohio|Coventry Village]] resulted in a series of court battles that led to [[Jacobellis v. Ohio|a Supreme Court decision]] on obscenity issues and Justice [[Potter Stewart]]'s famous "[[I know it when I see it]]" opinion about what the definition of [[obscenity]] is.
-====La Femme spectacle====
-:''[[La Femme spectacle]]''
-'''''La Femme spectacle''''' (Eng: ''Night Women'' or ''Paris in the Raw'') is a film directed by [[Claude Lelouch]] in [[1964 in film|1964]]. It has been described as an essay of what makes a « [[femme objet]] ». In this film Lelouch toys with the "[[Mondo]]" genre. As a starting point, Lelouch presents female spectacle across the world. We witness prenatal exercises, a [[child birth]], striptease sequences and scenes with [[transvestite]]s and [[transsexual]]s. Filmed in black and white, [[the film was banned]] in France in its initial release. At the end of the film we are presented with a young woman dressed in a wedding gown atop the Eiffel Tower who attempts to kill herself. Lelouch destroyed the negative himself a short while later.
-====And God Created Woman====
-:''[[And God Created Woman]]''
-'''''And God Created Woman''''' ([[French language|French]]: '''''Et Dieu... créa la femme''''') is a [[1956]] [[France|French]] [[film]] directed by [[Roger Vadim]] and starring [[Brigitte Bardot]]. It is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "[[sex symbol|sex kitten]]" persona.
-When the film was released in the [[United States]] by [[film distributor|distributor]] [[Kingsley-International Pictures]] in [[1957]], it pushed the boundaries of the [[sex in film|representation of sexuality in American cinema]], making Bardot an overnight sensation. It was condemned by the [[Catholic League of Decency]] To this day, the scene of Bardot dancing barefoot on a table is considered by some to be one of the most [[erotic]] scenes in the history of cinema.
-====Belle de Jour====
-:''[[Belle de Jour]]'' (1967)
-'''''Belle de jour''''' is a [[1967]] [[France|French]] film starring [[Catherine Deneuve]]. The film was directed by the [[Spain|Spanish]] director [[Luis Buñuel]]. It is based on the [[1928]] [[Belle de jour (novel)|novel]] of the same name by [[Joseph Kessel]]. It is the story of Séverine Serizy (Deneuve) is a young, beautiful [[Paris]] [[housewife]] who has [[masochism|masochistic]] [[daydream]] [[sexual fantasy|fantasies]] about elaborate [[flagellation|flogging]]s and [[Bondage (BDSM)|bondage]].
-====Barbarella====
-*''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]''
-'''''Barbarella''''', also known as '''Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy''' is a [[1968]] [[erotic science fiction]] film, based on the [[French language|French]] [[Barbarella (comic book)|''Barbarella'' comic book]] created by [[Jean-Claude Forest]]. It has gained a [[cult following]] since its re-release in 1977 on home video, and has had considerable influence on pop culture in the decades following its original release.
-==== La Grande Bouffe ====
-:''[[La Grande Bouffe]]'' (1973)
-'''''La Grande Bouffe''''', [[Italian language|Italian]] title '''''La grande abbuffata''''', also known as "Blow-Out", is a [[1973]] [[film]], directed by [[Marco Ferreri]] and written by 	Ferreri an regular collaborator [[Rafael Azcona]]. It stars [[Marcello Mastroianni]], [[Ugo Tognazzi]], [[Michel Piccoli]] and [[Philippe Noiret]]. The film was produced by [[Jean-Pierre Rassam]].
-The plot revolves around a [[fantastic]] Franco-Italian [[orgy]] comprising of four middle-aged gourmets [[bored|fed up]] with the [[mundanity]] of life, who embark upon a [[suicide pact]]: [[death]] by over-[[indulgence]] in [[food]], [[sex]] and [[alcohol]].
-In the United States, the film was originally rated [[X rating|X]]; but the rating was later changed to [[NC-17]] in [[1998]] for some [[explicit]] [[human sexuality|sexuality]]
-==== Histoire d'O ====
-:''[[Histoire d'O (film)|Histoire d'O]]'' (1975)
-''[[Histoire d'O (film)|Histoire d'O]]'' is a 1975 film by [[Just Jaeckin]] based on ''[[The Story of O]]'', starring [[Corinne Clery]] and [[Udo Kier]]. The film met with far less acclaim than the book. It was banned in the [[United Kingdom]] by the [[British Board of Film Censors]] until February 2000.
-==== Spermula ====
-:''[[Spermula]]'' (1976)
-'''Spermula''' is a French [[erotic science fiction]] film from 1976 directed by [[Charles Matton]]. The planet Spermula is facing destruction and the Spermulites plan to relocate to Earth. To do this, they have come up with a brilliant plan. They will [[body swap|transform]] themselves into beautiful women and suck out all men's [[semen]], thus making men tired and [[lazy]] from [[sexual]] [[exhaustion]] and unable to [[procreate]]. One of the Spermulites didn't transform as planned... Instead of a beautiful woman, he became a [[beautiful man]], Werner (played by [[Udo Kier]]). He likes being a man, except for one problem. His [[penis]] is only [[micropenis|one centimeter long]]. The spermulites are cynics who hate this [[disgusting]] love and sex thing that [[human|earth people]] like so much. But some of the spermulites actually start enjoying themselves and think that maybe love and sex aren't as disgusting as they thought.
-==== In the Realm of the Senses====
-:''[[In the Realm of the Senses]]'' (1976)
-'''''In the Realm of the Senses''''', ''Ai no korīda'', literally, "Bullfight of Love", [[French language|French]]: '''''L'empire des sens'''''}} is a [[1976 in film|1976]] [[Cinema of France|Franco]]-[[Cinema of Japan|Japanese film]] directed by [[Nagisa Oshima]]. It is a fictional and sexually explicit treatment of a true story from the 1930s in Japan, the [[Abe Sada]] story. It garnered great [[controversy]] during its release; while it was intended for [[mainstream]] release, it contains scenes of unsimulated  [[sexual activity]].
-In 1936 [[Tokyo]], [[Sada Abe]] (Matsuda) is a former [[prostitute]] who now works as a maid in a [[hotel]]. The hotel's owner, Kichizo Ishida, molests her, and the two begin an intense affair that consists of sexual experiments, drinking, and various self-indulgences. Ishida leaves his wife and family to pursue his affair with Abe. Abe becomes increasingly possessive and jealous of Ishida, and Ishida more eager to please her. Their mutual obsession escalates to the point where Ishida finds he is most excited by being [[asphyxia|strangled]] during lovemaking, and he is killed in this fashion. Abe then severs Ishida's penis and writes, "Sada Kichi the two of us forever," in [[blood]] on his chest.
-Strict censorship laws would not have allowed the film to be completed as per Oshima's vision in Japan. To get around this, the production was officially listed as a [[France|French]] enterprise, and the undeveloped footage was shipped to France for processing and editing. At its première in Japan (and in all prints of the film there ever since), the sexual activity has been optically [[censorship|censored]]. In the USA, the film was initially banned upon its première at the 1976 [[New York Film Festival]], but later screened uncut; a similar fate awaited the film when it was to be released in Germany. The film was not available on home video until 1990. Many individual scenes have been cut from the film for the sake of local censorship. For example, the [[British Board of Film Classification]] granted the film an "18" certificate (suitable for adults only), leaving all of the sexual activity intact, but ordered that a shot showing a prepubescent boy having his penis pulled as punishment be optically reframed so that the act itself was not shown. The film has been made available, however, in completely uncut forms in [[France]], the [[United States]] (including the current [[Fox Lorber]] [[DVD-Video|DVD]]), the [[Netherlands]] and several other territories.
-==== Emmanuelle ====
-*''[[Emmanuelle (film)|Emmanuelle]]''
-'''''Emmanuelle''''' is a [[1974 in film|1974]]  French [[softcore]] [[Sex in film|erotic movie]] directed by [[Just Jaeckin]], and starring by [[Sylvia Kristel]]. The screenplay was written by [[Jean-Louis Richard]], based on novel ''[[Emmanuelle]]: The Joys of a Woman'' by [[Emmanuelle Arsan]]. The music score is by [[Pierre Bachelet]]. It remains one of the most successful [[French cinema]] ever produced.
-[[Robert Fripp]] won an out-of-court settlement over the use of music in the film based on [[King Crimson]]'s "[[Larks' Tongues in Aspic]]".
-At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, [[Alain Siritzky]] announced that a worldwide search was underway for a new [[Emmanuelle]] to star in a new series of films. Only films and episodes produced by ASP ("Alain Siritzky Productions") film company are official and based on [[Arsan]]'s character.
-====Les Valseuses====
-:''[[Les Valseuses]]'' (1974)
-'''''Les Valseuses''''' ('''''Going Places''''') is a [[1974]] [[France|French]] [[anarchic comedy film]] directed by [[Bertrand Blier]], adapted from a novel by Bertrand Blier. The road trip of two drifters ([[Depardieu]] and [[Dewaere]]), who take from life as if it were a supermarket. They are joined by [[Miou-Miou]] who is on her own search for seemingly [[Inhibited sexual desire|unattainable sexual pleasure]]. The film illustrates the frenetics of the [[sexual revolution]] and morality after [[May 1968]].
-==== Le Sexe qui parle ====
-:''[[Le Sexe qui parle]]''
-'''''[[Le Sexe qui parle]]''''' ('''''The Sex Who Talks''''') is a [[France|French]] [[adult film]] of [[1975]]. It was the first exclusive [[hardcore pornography|hardcore]] [[feature film]] produced and released in France to meet international success. The film was exported to the [[USA]] with the title ''Pussy Talk'' and started a period of French [[porn chic]] in America, followed soon by films such as ''Candy’s Candy'' (''Candice Candy'') and ''Kinky Ladies of Bourbon Street'' (''Mes Nuits avec Alice, Pénélope, Arnold, Maude et Richard'') in [[1976]]. The film was directed by [[Claude Mulot]] (as Frédéric Lansac) who also directed a sequel to ''Le Sexe qui parle'' in [[1977]], which starts with the “infection” passed by Eric to a [[prostitute]].
-Talking female genitals is an early theme in [[French literature]] as seen in ''[[Les bijoux indiscrets]]'' by [[Denis Diderot]] and the [[fabliau]] ''Le Chevalier qui fist parler les cons''.
-Joëlle (Pénélope Lamour) is a beautiful executive at an [[advertisement]] company. Her [[vagina]] is infected with a mysterious malice and begins to talk and lead her to indecent sexual acts. It is soon revealed that her problems root from her hardships as an adolescent. In the finale, she has sex with her husband Eric (Jean-Loup Philippe (as Nils Hortzs)) and passes the “infection” to his [[penis]].
-==== Série rose: Les Chefs d’œuvre de la littérature érotique ====
-:''[[Série rose: Les Chefs d’œuvre de la littérature érotique ]]''
-'''''Série rose: Les Chefs d’œuvre de la littérature érotique''''' (literal English: ''[[pink]] series, the masterpieces of erotic literature'') is a French television series of 28 episodes of 26 minutes each, produced by [[Pierre Grimblat]] and broadcast on [[French television]] channel [[France 3|FR3]] from [[November 8]] [[1986]] to [[1990]].
-The series consisted of adaptations of [[libertine fiction]] from the [[European literature|European literary canon]], original authors included  [[Marguerite of Navarre]], [[Comte de Mirabeau]], [[Nicolas Restif de La Bretonne]], [[Anton Chekhov]], [[Chaucer]], [[Guy de Maupassant]], [[Jean de La Fontaine]], [[Théophile Gautier]], [[Daniel Defoe]] and [[Aristophanes]].
-Directors included Belgian director [[Harry Kumel]] ''([[Daughters of Darkness]]''), French colleague [[Michel Boisrond]] (''[[Cette sacrée gamine]]'') and Polish director [[Walerian Borowczyk]] (''[[The Beast]]''). [[Harry Kumel]]'s contributions were separately released as ''[[The Secrets of Love|The Secrets Of Love: Three Rakish Tales]]''. [[Walerian Borowczyk]] directed four episodes for the series: ''Almanach des adresses des demoiselles de Paris'', ''Un traitement justifié'', ''Le Lotus d'or'',  and ''L'Experte Halima''.
-''Série rose'' was bought by German and South-American and American television where they were known as ''[[Erotisches zur Nacht]]'' or ''Softly from Paris'' (USA).
-Most notable appearance is that of [[Pedro Almodóvar]] [[ensemble cast]] member [[Penélope Cruz]].
-====Bitter Moon====
-:''[[Bitter Moon]]'' (1992)
-: "We were headed for sexual bankruptcy." --Oscar
-:"Just watch it Nigel. Anything you can do, I can do better." --Fiona
-'''''Bitter Moon''''' is a [[1992]] film directed by [[Roman Polanski]] based on a novel by [[French author]] [[Pascal Bruckner]]. It's a classic story of [[sadism and masochism in fiction|sadomasochism]] and the [[war of the sexes]].
-====L' Ennui====
-:''[[L' Ennui]]'' (1998)
-'''L'Ennui''' is a French film directed by [[Cédric Kahn]] released in [[1998 in film|1998]]. The film is an homage to the Italian writer [[Alberto Moravia]] and loosely based on Moravia's novel ''[[La noia]]'', an exploration of the theme of the incomprehensible desire that sometimes poisons life. The film stars [[Charles Berling]], [[Sophie Guillemin]], [[Arielle Dombasle]], [[Robert Kramer]] and [[Alice Grey]]. Martin, professor of philosophy and tired of life, meets his elderly (and deceased) artist neighbour's muse Cécilia. He soon becomes possessed by a physical passion for her, a "[[femme-enfant]]" who is beautiful, naive, sexually voracious, and utterly pliant (see ''[[La Femme objet]]''), but at the same time opaque; and because he cannot inhabit her mind, cannot make her feel intensely for him, he becomes neurotically obsessed by her, which leads to all kinds of abjection and abasement for him. In this, the film explores the tension between the male dream of feminine passivity, and the male nightmare of feminine impassivity.
-==== Baise-moi ====
-:''[[Baise-moi]]''
-'''''Baise-moi''''' is a novel by [[France|French]] author [[Virginie Despentes]], first published in [[1999]]. A film based on the book, and with the same name, was released [[2000 in film|the following year]]. The film, directed by Despentes and actress [[Coralie Trinh Thi]], received intense media coverage because its graphic mix of real rather than simulated sex and violence was on the limit of that allowed by [[Censorship|censor]]s in various countries around the world.
-==== Romance X====
-:''[[Romance X]]''
-'''''Romance''''' (Romance X) is a [[1999]] [[France|French]] movie written and directed by [[Catherine Breillat]]. It stars [[Caroline Ducey]], [[erotic actor]] [[Rocco Siffredi]], [[Sagamore Stévenin]] and [[François Berléand]]. The film contains several sex scenes that appear to have been [[unsimulated]], especially the famous scene showing [[Caroline Ducey]]'s [[coitus]] from behind with an erect [[Rocco Siffredi]] (who is not brought to completion, though). The film premiered in Belgium and France on [[April 14]] [[1999]] and in the United States on [[September 17]] of that same year.
-Marie is a schoolteacher who is deeply in love with her boyfriend, a model, who does not have sex with her. She explores increasingly risky [[adultery|sexual encounters with other men]], including a [[BDSM]] relationship with a member of staff who works at the same school. Though she is [[pregnant]] with the child of her boyfriend, in the end she kills him and goes to her coworker for help in raising her child.
-''Romance'' was shown in mainstream cinemas in Europe. In the [[United States|U.S.]], the original version is unrated, and an edited version received an [[R (rating)|R rating]]. In March 2004, the [[unedited]] film was broadcast late at night on [[Germany|German]] public TV, leading to some protests. The film has also been shown on the Australian cable TV network "World Movies" in its [[uncut]] form.
-====Irréversible====
-:''[[Irréversible]]'' (2002)
-'''''Irréversible''''' ([[2002]], [[France]]) is a [[film]] [[screenwriter|written]], [[film director|directed]], [[film editor|edited]], and [[cinematographer|photographed]] by [[Gaspar Noé]]. It stars [[Monica Bellucci]] and [[Vincent Cassel]]. Several reviewers declared it one of the most disturbing and controversial [[films of 2002]], due to its explicit depiction of rape and murder. The film employs [[Nonlinear (arts)|non-linear narrative]].
-''Irréversible'' won the "Bronze Horse" award at the [[Stockholm Film Festival]] and was nominated for the [[Palme d'Or]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], as well as the "Best Foreign Language Award" by the Film Critics Circle of Australia. It was also voted "Best Foreign Language Film" by the San Diego Film Critics Society (tied with ''[[Les Invasions Barbares]]'').
-====The Dreamers====
-:''[[The Dreamers]]'' (2003)
-'''''The Dreamers''''' is a [[2003 in film|2003]] [[England|English]]/[[France|French]] [[Film director|directed]] by [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]. The film is based on [[Gilbert Adair]]'s novel ''[[The Holy Innocents (book)|The Holy Innocents]]''. Adair also wrote the screenplay for the film.
-A young [[United States|American]] [[Student exchange program|exchange student]], Matthew, ([[Michael Pitt]]) has come to [[Paris]] in order to study [[French (language)|French]]. Though he has lived there for several months, and will stay in Paris for a year he has made no friends. As a huge fan of [[film]], he spends most of his time in the [[Movie theater|cinema]]. He comes into a rapid friendship with a Frenchwoman, Isabelle ([[Eva Green]]), and her brother, Théo ([[Louis Garrel]]). All three have an avid love for movies, especially "the classics". As their friendship grows, Matthew learns of the extreme intimacy shared by the [[sibling]]s and gets pulled into their world. Over time he falls in love with them, and the three seclude themselves from the world, falling further and further from the reality of the [[1968 student riots]]. An abrupt ending to this relationship comes when that world is shattered and they are compelled to face the reality of [[1968 in France|1968 France]].
-====Ma Mère====
-:''[[Ma Mère]]'' (2004)
-'''''Ma mère''''' is a French film directed by [[Christophe Honoré]] after the eponymous novella by [[Georges Bataille]]. It stars [[Isabelle Huppert]] as Hélène, the mother, [[Louis Garrel]] as the son  and [[Emma de Caunes]] as Hansi. The film premiered on [[May 14]], [[2004]]. In the United States, the film was rated [[NC-17]] for strong and [[paraphilia|aberrant sexual]] content; the edited version rated R for strong aberrant sexuality, some language and violent images. [[Michael Haneke]] referenced it in ''[[Caché]]''.
-''My Mother'' is a [[bildungsroman]] of a young man's sexual [[initiation]] and corruption by his mother.
-====More films====
-*[[Douche après le bain]] (1897) - [[Louis Lumière]]
-*[[The Mother and the Whore]] (1973) - Jean Eustache
-'''''The Mother and the Whore''''' (French '''La maman et la putain''') is a [[1973 in film|1973]] [[Cinema of France|French]] film directed by [[Jean Eustache]]. It is one the last typical [[Nouvelle Vague]] films and an extended essay on [[male angst]], the [[war of the sexes]] and the [[Madonna-whore complex]]. This dramatic film focuses on three twentysomething Parisians in a [[bizarre]] [[love triangle]]: Alexandre [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]] is a seemingly [[unemployed]] [[narcissist]] involved with both a live-in girlfriend [[Bernadette Lafont]] and a Polish nurse [[Françoise Lebrun]] whom he picked up at [[Café de Flore]] and with whom he begins a [[desultory]] affair. The film [[plotless|focuses less on plot]] than on the confused and ambivalent interrelations of these three lost souls. Clocking in at over 3½ hours, this film has a style seemingly borrowed from [[cinéma vérité]] and it tries to capture real life in post-[[May 1968]] France. A typical scene is one where Marie comes home, puts a record on the turntable and listens to it in [[real time]]. It was preceded by a similar 1969 American film called ''[[Coming Apart]]''.
-*[[Bilitis (film)|Bilitis]] (1977) - David Hamilton
-[[Bilitis (film)]] is a 1977 [[softcore]] film directed by [[David Hamilton]]. Writing screen writing credits include [[Catherine Breillat]]. The story is after a [[Pierre Louÿs]]'s ''[[Songs of Bilitis]]'', a collection of poetry. Music was by [[Francis Lai]]. [[Patti D'Arbanville]] stars as Bilitis, [[Mathieu Carrière]] as Mikias. A [[coming of age]] story centering on the exploits of a [[young girl]] during summer vacation. The title character, Bilitis, ends up returning to school at the end of the film realizing she is not yet ready for adulthood. The film is shot in the same [[soft focus]] style that is common of [[David Hamilton (photographer)|David Hamilton's]] photography and his other films.
-*[[The Beast]] (1975) - Walerian Borowczyk
-'''''La Bête''''' (Eng: The Beast) is a 1975 film written and directed by [[Walerian Borowczyk]], starring [[Sirpa Lane]], based on ''[[Lokis]]'', a story by [[Prosper Mérimée]]. The film (originally conceived in [[1972]] as a film on its own, but then in 1974 as the fifth story in ''[[Contes immoraux]]'') belonged to his later work, which was seen by many as a decline in the director's career after ''[[Dzieje grzechu]]'', except in France, where it was hailed by prominent critics such as [[Ado Kyrou]]. Once upon a time in the [[18th century]] a [[beast]] lived in the woods of an [[aristocratic]] [[estate]]. And this beast, possessed of a giant [[phallus]] and an [[insatiable]] [[lust]], set upon the beautiful young lady of the house. Two centuries later, the tale of the beast would return in the dreams of an American heiress contracted to carry the male descendant of the same crumbling aristocratic family and their secret.
-*[[Maîtresse]] (1976) - Barbet Schroeder
-'''''Maîtresse''''' is a [[1976 in film|1976]] [[Cinema of France|French film]] [[film director|directed]] by [[Barbet Schroeder]] and starring [[Bulle Ogier]] ([[Dominatrix]]) and [[Gérard Depardieu]] (boyfriend) in an early role. The film provoked controversy in the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]] because of its graphic depictions of [[sado-masochism|sado-masochistic]] behaviour, such as nailing a penis into a plank, and cunt whipping.
-Olivier (Depardieu) is a small-time crook. He and a friend happen to meet a woman, Ariane (Ogier) whose plumbing needs to be fixed. They fix the pipes and learn that the landlord downstairs is away. They take the opportunity to burgle him. However they discover that in fact downstairs Ariane has a torture chamber — she is working as a [[professional dominatrix]]. Olivier, at Ariane's request, helps her with her work and slowly becomes obsessed with her but struggles with her [[sadism and masochism|sado-masochistic]] activities. Olivier tries to understand and take control of Ariane, who he believes is scared in her job. However, as their love blossoms, their natural roles of dominance and submission cannot be overcome.
-''Maîtresse'' was first considered for release by the [[British Board of Film Classification]] in [[1976]]. It was banned from release, with the Board's examiner stating that the film was "miles in excess of anything we have released in this field". This quote itself led the film to achieve a certain level of notoriety. In [[1981]] the film was resubmitted. Following 4 minutes and 47 seconds of cuts from the most graphic scenes, the film was released with an X certificate. In [[2003]], the film was submitted for a third time and, following a relaxation of guidelines, passed at the 18 certificate without cuts. The film was rated ''[[X-rated|X]]'' in the United States.
-*[[La Cage aux Folles (film)|La Cage aux folles]] (1978) - [[Edouard Molinaro]]
-'''''La Cage aux Folles''''' (tr. ''The Cage of Queens'' or ''The Birdcage'', lit. ''The Cage of Crazy Women'' or ''The Bird Cage'') is a [[1978]] [[film adaptation]] of the 1973 [[LGBT]] play by [[Jean Poiret]]. It was directed by [[Édouard Molinaro]]. Like the play, the film tells the story of a gay couple - Renato, the manager of a [[Saint-Tropez]] nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his star attraction - and the adventures that ensue when Renato's son brings home his fiance's ultra-conservative parents to meet them.
-The film won over audiences with its sight gags, uproarious complications, and a tender and touching conclusion. It ran for well over a year at the [[Paris Theatre]], an art house cinema in [[New York City]], as well as theatres throughout the country in both urban and rural areas. For years it remained the most successful foreign film to be released in the [[United States]].
-*[[Beau-père]] (1981) - Bertrand Blier
-'''''Beau Pere''''' is a [[1981]] film by director [[Bertrand Blier]]. The movie revolves around a never reached his potential piano player, Remy and his struggles with, first, his failing marriage...then his wife's untimely demise and finally the infatuation that his 14-year old step daughter has developed for him. [[Patrick Dewaere]]'s character, Remy can never catch a break.  He struggles for cash and his lack of motivation dogs him constantly. His role as stepfather to a budding woman is just another obstacle he faces in his downtrodden path.  [[Ariel Besse]] plays a 14-year old woman-child. [[Maurice Ronet]] is a man about town but has also lost focus.
-*[[Tales of Ordinary Madness]] (1981) - Marco Ferreri
-'''''Tales of Ordinary Madness''''' (it: '''''Storie di ordinaria follia''''') (fr: '''''Conte de la folie ordinaire''''') is an [[Italian-French]] [[1981 in film|1981]] film by Italian director [[Marco Ferreri]]. It was shot in English in the USA, featuring [[Ben Gazzara]], [[Susan Tyrrell]] and [[Ornella Muti]] in the leading roles. The film's title and subject matter are based on the works and the person of US poet [[Charles Bukowski]]. The music was by [[Philippe Sarde]].
-The film follows the meandering (sexual) adventures of the [[poet]] and drunk, Charles Serking, laying bare the [[sleaze]] of life in the less reputable neighbourhoods of [[Los Angeles]]. Serking's life takes a turn for the better when he meets Cass, a young [[Prostitution|prostitute]] with [[suicide|self destructive]] habits. They have a [[stormy]] [[relationship]]. When Serking gets an offer from a major publishing house, Cass tries to stop him from leaving, but fails. Serking gives in to the temptation of the big bucks, but soon realises his mistake and returns to LA only to find that Cass has killed herself in his absence. Devastated he hits the bottle in a nightmarish drinking bout, but finally reaches [[catharsis]] and returns to the seaside guesthouse where he spent his happiest moments with Cass. Here he rekindles his poetry with the aid of a young admirer in one of Ferreri's trademark beach scenes. While successful in [[Europe]], the film met with a lukewarm reception in the US despite its American setting.
-*[[Querelle ]](1982) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
-'''''Querelle''''', a [[1982]] film directed by [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]], adapted from [[France|French]] author [[Jean Genet]]'s 1947 novel ''[[Querelle de Brest]]''. The plot centres on the handsome sailor [[Georges Querelle]] ([[Brad Davis (actor)|Brad Davis]]), who is also a thief and [[serial killer]].  When his ship, the ''Vengeur'', arrives in [[Brest, France|Brest]], he visits the ''Feria'', a bar and brothel for sailors run by the madam Lysiane ([[Jeanne Moreau]]), whose lover Robert is Querelle's brother.  Querelle has a passionate love/hate relationship with his brother; when they meet at La Feria, they embrace, but also punch one another slowly and repeatedly in the belly.  Lysiane's husband Nono ([[Gunther Kaufmann]]) tends bar and manages La Feria's underhanded affairs with the assistance of his friend, the corrupt police captain Mario.
-Fassbinder's adaptation features [[surreal]] sets that underscore the dreamlike quality and abstraction of the novel. Filmed on a moodily lit soundstage, the look of the film was clearly influenced by the paintings of [[George Quaintance]], whose [[campy]] paintings of barely dressed sailors and lion-tamers appeared in magazines such as ''[[Physique Pictorial]]''.  It also seems, with its shots of long, empty, walled cityscapes filmed in acid yellows and oranges, to be inspired by the Surrealist paintings of [[Giorgio de Chirico]] and [[Salvador Dalí]]. According to the book ''[[Criminal Desires]]'', Genet, though aware of the film, declined to have anything to do with its production, claiming that he could no longer remember the novel's contents.  He apparently never saw the finished product, allegedly saying he wouldn't go see it because smoking wasn't allowed in movie theaters.
-*[[Betty Blue]] (1986) - Jean-Jacques Beineix
-'''''Betty Blue''''' is a [[1986 in film|1986]] [[France|French]] film. Its original French title is '''''37°2 le matin''''',  which means "37.2°C in the Morning" . The film was directed by [[Jean-Jacques Beineix]] and stars  [[Béatrice Dalle]] as Betty. It is based on the [[1985 in literature|1985]] novel of the same name by [[Philippe Djian]]. Nearly twenty years after its release, it was on the list of [[Roger Ebert]]'s most hated films.
-Betty (Dalle) and Zorg (Anglade) are passionate lovers who live in a shack on the beach. He works as a handyman who does odd jobs to pay the bills. As the film begins, they have only been going out for a week and are in a very passionate stage of their relationship. Zorg narrates the story of their relationship via voiceover. He describes Betty, “like a flower with translucent antennae and a mauve plastic heart.” She yearns for a better life and quit her last job as a waitress because she was being sexually harassed by her boss. Zorg’s boss asks him to paint the 500 shacks that populate the beach — a fact that he keeps from Betty who thinks they only have to do one. She attacks the project with enthusiasm that quickly turns to anger once she learns the actual number. In response, Betty covers the boss’ car with pink paint. During a nasty fight, Betty accidentally discovers a series of notebooks that contain a novel Zorg wrote years ago. She reads it and falls in love with him even more. She then makes it her mission in life to type every hand-written page and get it published. Betty's freespiritedness and devotion to Zorg develop into alarming obsession, aggression and destructiveness, and the film alternates between comic and tragic modes.
-*[[Mr. Hire]] (1989) - [[Patrice Leconte]]
-'''''Monsieur Hire''''' is a 1989 French film directed by [[Patrice Leconte]] and starring [[Michel Blanc]] in the title role and [[Sandrine Bonnaire]] as the [[Love interest|object of his affection]]. The film received numerous accolades as well as a glowing review from popular American movie commentator [[Roger Ebert]]. The film is based on Belgian-born French writer [[Georges Simenon]]'s novel. Simenon wrote many popular detective books. Original music by [[Michael Nyman]]. Soundtrack also features the 4th movement in the "Piano Quartet, opus 25" by [[Brahms]].
-The plot of the film centers on a withdrawn [[misanthropic]] [[voyeuristic]] tailor, Monsieur Hire, who spies on his [[beautiful woman|gorgeous neighbor]] across the street. This takes place in the backdrop of another plot, the [[unsolved murder]] of a local young woman. Monsieur Hire is hounded by a detective inspecting the murder and is also eventually noticed by the object of his gaze, the young woman Alice.  Viewers will scarcely understand Alice's reciprocal interest in Monsieur Hire until an interesting plot twist unravels. Monsieur Hire propositions Alice to ditch her no-good boyfriend Emile, played by the handsome Luc Thuillier, and run off with him to his little home in Switzerland, where he promises to take care of her. What happens next is a [[tragedy]] of the highest order, with a [[dark]] surprise. A riveting and sensual film.
-====Directors====
-=====José Bénazéraf=====
-:''[[José Bénazéraf]]''
-'''José Bénazéraf''' is a French [[filmmaker]] and [[Film producer|producer]], born [[January 8]] [[1922]] in [[Casablanca]], [[Morocco]]. After having finished his studies in political sciences, he started his career by producing ''Les lavandières du Portugal'' in [[1958]], a film of [[Pierre Gaspard-Huit]]. He started to direct erotic feature films in [[1961]] with ''[[L'éternité pour nous]]''. Two of his early sixties films, ''[[Le Concerto de la peur]]'' and ''[[La Nuit la plus longue]]'' featured a [[Chet Baker]] score.
-At the end of the 1970s, Bénazéraf moved his attention to the [[direct-to-video]] market.
-=====Max Pécas=====
-:''[[Max Pécas]]''
-'''Max Pécas''' was a [[French film]]maker, scenario writer and producer. He was born [[April 25]] [[1925]] in [[Lyon]] and died [[10 February]] [[2003]] in [[Paris]].
-After making [[sex in film|erotic movies]] (''[[I Am Frigid...Why?]]'', ''[[I Am a Nymphomaniac]]'' and ''[[Les Mille et une Perversions de Félicia]]'') and some thrillers, he shoots teenage comedies, including his classic "Saint-Tropez series". His filmography is considered as models of [[camp]] [[B-movie]]s.
-Some of Max Pécas's [[softcore]] films were imported to the U.S. by [[Radley Metzger]].
-=====Jean Rollin=====
-:''[[Jean Rollin]]''
-'''Jean Michel Rollin Le Gentil''' (born [[November 3]], [[1938]] in [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], [[Paris]], [[France]]) is a [[French people|French]] [[filmmaker]], [[actor]], and [[author]] best known for his films in the [[fantastique]] genre. He is the son of [[Denise Rollin-Le Gentil]] and is credited as having made the first French vampire film (''Le Viol du vampire'', 1968) as well as the first French [[gore film]] (''Le Raisins de la mort'', 1978). He is also one of the early pioneers of French [[X-rated]] cinema.
-Influenced by traditional French and [[German expressionist]] cinema, classic [[American horror]], early [[serial film|serial]]s, comics, [[fantastic literature]] and [[surrealist]] art, Rollin's [[fantastique]] films have been rightfully compared to a sort of visual poetry, juxtaposing the [[macabre]] with the [[sensual]] and the [[beautiful]] with the [[bizarre]]. His poetic images are often accompanied by minimal dialogue and simple but haunting musical scores, and the pacing is generally slow and deliberate. All of these qualities contribute to an atmosphere which is commonly described as surreal and [[dream art|dream-like.]]
-=====Radley Metzger=====
-:''[[Radley Metzger]]''
-'''Radley Metzger''' (born [[January 21]] [[1929]]) is an [[American film]]maker and [[film distribution|distributor]]. He is also credited under the [[pseudonym]] '''Henry Paris''', a name he adopted in the 1970s when he began to direct hardcore pornography.
-Along with Ava Leighton, he founded [[Audubon Films]] in the early 1960s, a film distribution company that specialized in importing European features to exploit in the gradually expanding [[sexploitation]] film market.  Metzger's skills as an editor were employed in re-cutting and augmenting many of the features Audubon handled. The company's first run-away success was Mac Ahlberg's ''[[I, a Woman]]'' (U. S. 1966).
-As an [[auteur]], he is considered by his fans to be among the more stylish directors of the [[porn chic]] era. He regularly collaborated with [[cinematographer]] [[Hans Jura]]. His company [[Audubon]], distributed European films in the United States.
-=====Catherine Breillat=====
-:''[[Catherine Breillat]]''
-'''Catherine Breillat''' (born [[July 13]], [[1948]]) is a [[French]] [[filmmaker]] and [[film director|director]] based in [[Paris]].  She is known not only for her films focusing on themes of [[sexuality]], [[gender conflict]] and [[sibling rivalry]], but also for her best-selling novels. Ms. Breillat has been the subject of controversy for her [[explicit]] depictions of sexuality and violence. She cast the pornstar [[Rocco Siffredi]] in her films ''[[Romance (1999 film)|Romance]]'' (''Romance X'', 1999) and ''Anatomie de l'enfer'' (''[[Anatomy of Hell]]'', 2003).
-In an interview with ''[[Senses of Cinema]]'', she described [[David Cronenberg]] as another filmmaker she considers to have a similar approach to sexuality in film.
-====Film censorship in France ====
-:''[[Film censorship in France]]''
-Extremely violent or graphic pornography is considered [[X-rated]], may be shown only in specific theaters, and may not be displayed to [[minor (law)|minor]]s. Incurs special taxes on revenue (33% for X-rated movies, 50% for pornographic online services). The rating system is controversial; for instance, in 2000, the sexually explicit and violent ''[[Baise-moi]]'' was initially rated as "restricted" by the French government, but this classification was overturned by the ''[[Conseil d'État]]'' ruling on a lawsuit brought by associations supporting [[Christianity|Christian]] and [[family values]].
-====Sex Stars System====
-:''[[Sex Stars System]]''
-French film magazine dedicated to [[Eroticism in film|erotic cinema]] and [[Pornographic movie|pornographic cinema]]. Emile Gir was the editor-in-chief and [[Jean-Pierre Bouyxou]] was on its editorial board. The magazine lasted for at least 18 monthly issues between 1975-76 (it is not confirmed if issue no. 19 came out as scheduled on November 1976). In December 1976, the magazine's name was changed simply to Stars System and new enumaration began.
-====Brigitte Lahaie====
-:''[[Brigitte Lahaie]]''
-'''Brigitte Lahaie''' (born on [[October 12]], [[1955]]) is a [[French erotica|French erotic]] actress best remembered for her performances in [[Jean Rollin]]'s (''[[Fascination (film)|Fascination]]'') and [[José Bénazéraf]]'s (''[[Bordel SS]]'') films.
-Born '''Brigitte Lucille Janine Van Meerhaegue''' in [[Tourcoing|Tourcoing, France]], she began her career at the age of 20 performing in pornographic films from 1976 through 1980.
-In 1980, having become a kind of idol of the French [[adult film industry]]'s golden age, she decided to put an end to her hardcore career and appeared in more "traditional" movies and "big" productions, such as ''[[I as in Icarus|I comme Icare]]'' ([[Henri Verneuil]], 1980) in which she played a stripper, and in ''[[Pour la peau d'un flic]]'' ([[Alain Delon]], 1981) in which she played a [[nurse]].  However, she also made some softcore and [[Nazi exploitation]] "[[video nasty|video nasties]]" during this time.
-====Brigitte Bardot====
-:''[[Brigitte Bardot]]''
-'''Brigitte Bardot''' ([[September 28]], [[1934]]) is a [[France|French]] [[actress]], [[model (person)|former fashion model]], [[singer]], and considered the [[embodiment]] of the [[1950s]] and [[1960s]] [[sex symbol|sex kitten]] in such films as ''[[And God Created Woman (1956 film)|And God Created Woman]]'' (1956), ''[[Spirits of the Dead]]'' (1968), ''[[Contempt (film)|Contempt]]'' (1963), ''[[Masculin, féminin|Masculine, Feminine]]'' (1966).
-====Film production====
-:''[[Eurocine]]''
-'''Eurociné''' is a Paris-based, family-run film production company. Since 1937, Eurocine has been producing some of the most recognized [[low budget]] European flicks, including striptease movies and erotic crime thrillers. It is also a distribution company of [[b film]]s, and is known for its collaborations with Spanish director [[Jess Franco]]. The company was featured in the  [[Eurotika |Eurotika (TV documentary)]]. With greater permissiveness in cinema at the end of the 1960s, Eurocine began to produce erotic movies. But when [[hardcore]] films were legalized, the market for erotic films disappeared and Eurocine turned to producing horror and fantasy movies.
-=== Visual arts ===
-==== Lui ====
-'''''[[Lui]]''''' is a French adult entertainment [[magazine]] created in January [[1964]] by [[Daniel Filipacchi]], a fashion photographer turned publisher.
-The objective was to be bring some charm «à la française» to the market of man-only magazines, following the success of ''[[Playboy]]'' in the USA, launched just a decade before.
-France, indeed, in the first half of XX century had an outstanding reputation for erotic publications, feeding also foreign market and inspiring also ersatz France-flavoured magazines abroad, when, for example, US publishers used French-assonating titles like ''Chère'' and ''Dreamé'' or placed tricolour flags on the covers, attempting to attract the casual buyer. It was anyway a semi-clandestine circulating material, not allowed to be freely displayed or admittedly bought. In this sense ''Playboy'' changed the way 'soft-pornography' (become more respectfully 'adult entertainment'), can be publicly circulated.
-This magazine was particularly successful from its origins to the early eighties, featuring many B-List but also prominent French actresses, such as [[Brigitte Bardot]], [[Mireille Darc]] or [[Marlène Jobert]]. Its motto was ''Lui, le magazine de l'homme moderne''.
-It featured a pin-up by [[Aslan (pin up)|Aslan]].
-==== Aslan ====
-:''[[Aslan]]''
-'''Aslan''' (real name is Alain Gourdon, born in [[Bordeaux]] (France) on [[May 23]] [[1930]]) is a French painter, sculptor and [[Pin-up girl|pin-up]] artist. He is mostly famous in France for his pin ups. He contributed to ''[[Lui]]'' from the creation of the magazine in [[1964]] to the early eighties, providing a monthly pin up.
-He is the sculptor of the [[Fifth Republic]] [[Marianne]] as [[Brigitte Bardot]] in 1970, followed by the [[Mireille Mathieu]] Marianne.
-==== Paul Avril ====
-:''[[Paul Avril]]''
-''' Édouard-Henri Avril ''' ([[21 May]] [[1843]] in [[Algiers]] &ndash; [[1928]] in [[Le Raincy]]) was a [[France|French]] painter and [[commercial artist]]. Under the [[pseudonym]] '''Paul Avril''', he was an illustrator of [[erotic literature]].
-Avril illustrated such works as the , [[Gustave Flaubert]]'s ''[[Salammbô]]'', [[Gautier]]'s ''[[Le Roi Candaule]]'', [[John Cleland]]'s ''[[Fanny Hill]]'', [[Jean Baptiste Louvet de Couvray]]'s ''[[Adventures of the Chevalier de Faublas]]'', [[Mario Uchard]]'s ''[[Mon Oncle Barbassou]]'' (scenes in a [[harem]]), [[Jules Michelet]]'s ''[[La Femme|Woman]]'', [[Hector France]]'s  ''[[Musk, Hashish and Blood]]'', the writings of [[Pietro Aretino]] (''[[Sonetti Lussuriosi]]'' (1524) by [[Pietro Aretino]] in [[1882]]), ''[[Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier des Chartreux]]'' and the anonymous lesbian novel ''[[Gamiani]]''. His major work was designs for ''[[De Figuris Veneris: A Manual of Classical Erotica]]'' by the German scholar [[Friedrich Karl Forberg]].
-==== Paul-Emile Bécat ====
-:''[[Paul-Emile Bécat]]''
-'''Paul-Émile Bécat''' ([[1885]] – [[1960]]) was a French painter, engraver and draftsman who won the Great [[prix de Rome]] in [[1920]]. He is noted for his illustration of [[erotic literature]].
-*[[Pierre Louÿs]], ''[[Aphrodite: mœurs antiques]]'' and ''[[Songs of Bilitis]]''
-*[[Pietro Aretino]], ''[[Ragionamenti]]''
-*[[Pierre de Brantôme]], ''[[Vie des dames galantes]]''
-*[[Pierre Choderlos de Laclos]], ''[[Les Liaisons dangereuses]]''
-*[[Paul Verlaine]], ''[[Les Amies]]''
-*François-Mathieu [[Mathieu-François Pidansat de Mairobert|Pidansat de Mairobert]], ''La secte des anandrynes''
-==== Georges Pichard====
-:''[[Georges Pichard]]''
-'''Georges Pichard''' ([[January 17]] [[1920]] - [[June 7]] [[2003]]) was a [[French comics|French]] [[comics artist]], known for numerous [[Bande dessinée|BD]] magazine covers, serial publications and [[adult comics]] stereotypically featuring [[well-endowed]] women and [[BDSM]]-imagery. [[Guido Crepax]] was an Italian contemporary with similar subject matter, yet a different style.
-Toward the end of his life, Pichard adapted classic [[erotic stories]] such as ''[[Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan]]'' by [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], ''[[Kama Sutra|The Kama-Sutra]]'' by [[Vatsyayana]], ''[[Trois filles de leur mère]]'' by [[Pierre Louÿs]], ''[[La Religieuse]]'' by [[Denis Diderot]] and ''[[Germinal]]'' by [[Émile Zola]].
-==== Roland Topor ====
-:''[[Roland Topor]]''
-'''Roland Topor''' ([[Paris]], [[January 7]] [[1938]] - [[Paris]], [[April 16]] [[1997]]), was a [[France|French]] [[illustrator]], [[painter]], [[writer]] and [[filmmaker]], known for the [[surrealism|surreal]], [[Fantastic art|fantastic]] and [[grotesque]] nature of his work.
-Roland Topor is best known for his novel ''[[The Tenant (novel)|The Tenant]]'' ("Le Locataire Chimérique", [[1964]]), which was adapted to film by [[Roman Polanski]] in [[1976]].  The later novel ''[[Joko's Anniversary]]'' (1969), a [[fable]] about loss of [[identity]], is a [[vicious]] [[satire]] on [[Conformity (psychology)|social conformity]].
-With [[René Laloux]], Topor made "Dead Time" ("[[Les Temps Morts]]", 1964), "The Snails" ("[[Les Escargots]]", 1965) and their most famous work, the feature length ''[[Fantastic Planet]]'' ("La Planète Sauvage", 1973). Topor also played [[Renfield]] in [[Werner Herzog]]'s [[film]] ''[[Nosferatu the Vampyre|Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht]]'' (1979) and worked on ''[[Marquis (film)|Marquis]]'' (1989).
-Roland Topor was discovered by [[Jacques Sternberg]] and in 1960 he publishes his debut ''[[Les Masochistes]]'', a collection of drawings.  He exhibits in the university museum [[Maison des Beaux-Arts]], Paris from  [[January 20]] to January 30 [[1961]].
-He published several books of drawings, including ''Dessins panique'' (1965) ''Quatre roses pour Lucienne'' (1967) and ''Toporland'' (1975). Selections from ''Quatre roses pour Lucienne'' were reprinted in the [[English language]] [[Anthology|collection]] ''Stories and Drawings'' (1967). His carefully detailed, realistic style, with elaborate [[crosshatching]], emphasises the [[fantastic]] and [[macabre]] subject matter of the images.
-In 1962 he created the [[Panic Movement]] (''mouvement panique''), together with [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]] and [[Fernando Arrabal]].
-From 1961 to 1965 he contributed to the French satirical [[Hara-Kiri (magazine)|Hara Kiri magazine]].
-He created the drawings for the bizarre introduction of Arrabal's film ''[[Viva la muerte]]'' (1971).
-In 1983, he created with [[Henri Xhonneux]] the popular French TV series ''[[Téléchat]]'', a parody of news broadcasts featuring a puppet cat and a puppet ostrich.
-==== Clovis Trouille ====
-:''[[Clovis Trouille]]''
-'''Camille Clovis Trouille''', was born on [[24 October]] [[1889]], in [[Amiens]], [[France]]. He worked as Sunday painter and a restorer and decorator of department store mannequins, and trained at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] from [[1905]] to [[1910]]. He died on [[24 September]] [[1975]] in [[Paris]]. His themes were [[anti-clericalism]] and [[eroticism]].
-==== Tomi Ungerer ====
-:''[[Tomi Ungerer]]''
-'''Tomi (Jean-Thomas) Ungerer''' (born [[November 28]], [[1931]]) is a [[France|French]] illustrator best known for his erotic and political illustrations as well as children's books.
-===Photography===
-[[Gilles Berquet]], [[Guy Bourdin]], [[Mirka Lugosi]], [[Pierre Molinier]], [[Eugène Pirou]]
-'''Gilles Berquet''' (born 1956) is a [[French photographer]], and one of the driving forces in the European fetish [[erotica]] scene. He is also the editor of ''[[maniac]]''. [[Kink (sexual)|Kinky]] [[fetish]] and [[Bondage (BDSM)|bondage]] photography with a film noir feel. Carefully posed with obvious illusions to the [[subrosa]] [[fetish photography]] of 1920s Paris, the photos maintain a caught in the act modernity.
-''' Guy Bourdin''' (born [[December 2]] [[1928]] in [[Paris]], died [[March 29]] [[1991]] of cancer in Paris) was one of the best known [[photography|photographers]] of [[fashion photography|fashion]] and advertising of the second half of the 20th century. His themes included [[sex]], [[death]], [[violence]], [[glamour]] and [[fear]]. Amongst others, [[Jean Baptiste Mondino]], [[Nick Knight (photographer)|Nick Knight]] and [[David LaChapelle]] have admitted to be great admirers of his work.
-'''Pierre Molinier''' ([[April 13]], [[1900]] - [[March 3]], [[1976]]) was a [[surrealist]] [[painter]], [[surrealist photographer|photographer]] and "maker of objects". He was born in Agen (France) and lived his life in [[Bordeaux]] (France).  He began his career by painting [[Landscape art|landscape]]s, but his work turned towards a [[Sexual fetishism|fetish]]istic [[eroticism]] early on.
-'''Eugène Pirou''' (1841-1909) was an early French filmmaker and photographer who made one of the first [[pornographic]] films, ''[[Le Coucher de la Marie]]'' in which Louise Willy performed a striptease, only a year after the first public screening of motion pictures, though he made his name filming the Tsar's visit to Paris a year later in 1897.
 == Obscenity censorship in France ==
 *''Paris Eros: The Imaginary Museum of Eroticism in Paris'' (2004) - [[Hans-Jürgen Döpp]]
 *''[[French Undressing - Naughty Postcards from 1900 to 1920]]''
+==See also==
+''[[world erotica]], [[French popular culture]],  [[French striptease]], [[libertine novel]], [[French exploitation]], [[French erotic literature]], [[enfer|L'enfer]], [[prostitution in France]] ''
 {{GFDL}}

French erotica

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Current revision

Contents

Prehistory

12th century

Letters of Heloise and Abelard

15th century

Les Cent Nouvelles nouvelles

François Villon

16th century

Heptameron

Gargantua and Pantagruel

17th century

Les Vies des Dames galantes

Académie des dames ou le meursius francais

L'École des filles

Letters of a Portuguese Nun

Vénus dans le Cloître

Varia

18th century

19th century

20th century

Obscenity censorship in France

Bibliography

See also

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