Jesus Franco Eurotrash

2018
Inkjet on watercolour paper
90 x 60 centimeters

I have long been a exploitation cinema enthusiast and this reimagining of the lurid Jesus Franco movie, She Killed in Ecstasy, is very much in the same vein as the previous print in this series, The Daughter of Fu Manchu. Key features of this style of cinema are the ramping up of sex and violence and Franco showed very little restraint in this department. What is notable about She Killed in Ecstasy are the stylish sets and locations that reflected European avant-garde taste of the 1960's and 1970's.

One example is Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill's exquisite archectural statement, Xanadu, which is featured prominently in the latter half of the film but unfortunately I decided to omit it because of the difficulty involved with building the 3D model. Instead, for the exterior view I inserted the sort of generic holiday apartments designed for the package holiday tourist typical of the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

I had no such problem with recreating the famous 'Blow Chair' which is the peice of inflatable furniture which prominently occupies the foreground of the composition. Its inclusion is intended to impart a certain sensuality which I suspect doesn't translate into actual comfort in real life.

Unlike Franco, who wastes little time propelling the action into the direction expected by the audience of exploitation cinema, I decided pose the two women at the point they are asessing one another's desirability with the woman on the right signalling her desire by slightly spreading her legs and the woman in the foreground lifting her foot as a sign of consent.

She Killed in Ecstasy : IMDB
Xanadú, Ricardo Bofill : Arch Daily

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