Bilitis (1977) (35mm Upgrade)

Bilitis (Patti d’Arbanville) attends an all-girl school that is about to break for summer. Once on vacation, Bilitis comes to grips with her developing sexuality and strikes up a romantic liaison with a local boy (Bernard Giraudeau). A secondary romance concerns Bilitis’ female guardian (Mona Kristensen) and her new husband (Gilles Kohler). Directed by David Hamilton.

In October 2016, French presenter Flavie Flament accused David Hamilton of raping her in 1987, when she was 13 years old. In November 2016, French magazine L’Obs published anonymous accounts from three other former models, affirmed to have been raped by Hamilton. Hamilton issued a statement threatening legal action against his accusers and claimed that he did not do anything wrong.

On the evening of November 25, 2016, Hamilton’s cleaning lady entered the apartment of the 83-year-old photographer and found him dead, with a plastic bag over his head. The autopsy revealed that asphyxiation was the cause of death. Suicide was the leading hypothesis in the investigation.

This film came from an uncut import print in excellent picture quality.