MADAME O DVD Review

Editor, Europe; Rotterdam, The Netherlands (@ardvark23)
MADAME O DVD Review

Synapse Films has just released Seiichi Fukuda's Japanese seedy sixties revenge movie "Madame O" and it's an odd release to be sure.

For starters it's the second film in a series of "Vice Doctor" movies, of which all other entries are considered lost.
The only reason this one still exists is that it was actually sold to a foreign distributor as a naughty picture. And as the only surviving copy is an American one, the English dub is a take-it-or-leave-it affair with the original Japanese soundtrack having gone AWOL...

All of this sounds very bad, but don't dismiss this disc just yet. The story is self-contained to the point where (thankfully) no knowledge of any of the other "Vice Doctor" movies is required, and well... the movie itself is strangely enough rather good, and very much ahead of its time.

So read on after the break, and beware of angry women brandishing scalpels and syphilitic cotton balls!

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Small History Lesson:

In the sixties, the advancing television was proving to be quite a threat to the Japanese movie industry. When even some of the oldest and biggest studios got into trouble, drastic measures were taken to try and ensure some sort of future for Japanese cinema. One of the anxious leaps the studios made was to start making movies that could NEVER be shown on television because of the rampant onscreen sex and violence.

Later this subgenre developed into the (in)famous "Pinks" and "Pinku Violence" movies, but in the mid-sixties they weren't quite THAT flashy yet. These earlier sex movies were called "erudiction films", and they proved to be so popular and cheap to produce that literally hundreds of them were being made each year, often by small independent producers.
With always a vast supply of new movies, nobody took care to preserve the old ones and most of them are now lost forever.

Which is a pity, because even though the quality differed a lot from film to film, many an interesting actor or director got his first break in the film industry through the making of these cheap sex films. And as with any genre, some of the movies were actually not bad.

Most of these movies that still survive only do so because of foreign distribution. Some were even picked up in Europe and the USA, and "Continuation: Vice Doctor - Female Vice Edition" is one of those. It is the sequel to the similarly overtitled "Vice Doctor - Maternity and Gynecology Department Diary". It was picked up by Ratzley Metzger's Audubon Films company in the late sixties, re-dubbed in English and retitled into "Madame O". This is the version that's on the disc.


The Story:

Seiko, a slightly older single woman, is a respected doctor with her own gynecological clinic.
However, she harbors a terrible secret: mentally scarred by a gang-rape which left her pregnant and infected with syphilis, she has grown to hate all men. At night Seiko takes revenge by going out and seducing lusty males.
Which doesn't seem too bad, but when she has exhausted her prey she nicks him with a scalpel and infects the wound with a syphilitic swab.

Eeeeuwww!!!

Anyway, these secret exploits are not without danger and when Seiko gets in some (gory) trouble, she suddenly gets help from a male colleague who seems to be an angel in disguise. As her relationship with her savior deepens Seiko has to face a difficult dilemma.
Should she continue her quest for revenge, or face the possibility that maybe not ALL men are evil?


The Movie:

There are few things I dislike more than entering a series halfway. The end result might still be an enjoyable experience, but given half the chance I like to start at the beginning.
The same thing goes for sequels: I'd like to see the first movie first and the second movie second.
With this one that's impossible, and with the original Japanese dub missing I really thought "Why even bother?".

But here's the thing: "Madame O" is a completely separate story, so you can't tell if it's a sequel or not.
Also, the English dub is quite good and never took me out of the movie. Most speech concerns Seiko narrating her exploits anyway, so bad synchronization isn't a problem.

As for the movie itself: for a supposed skinflick it is surprisingly deep, not focusing on the titillating aspects of sex but on the psychological aftermath. I'd even go as far as to say it has more in common with Roman Polanski's "Revulsion" than with "Emmanuelle".

It helps that the story stays somewhat in the Realm of the Possible and is nicely lensed. Cinematography is really good here, with lots of attention to detail and many fine compositions.
Intriguingly, the movie switches from color to black-and-white several times during its length, without there being a simple narrative explanation for it. It's not like all flashbacks are in color, or the anxious moments are in black-and-white. Maybe it was just a cost-saving device but it looks like it was done on purpose and manages to make the film look more polished.

"Madame O" also has a strong leading actress in Michiko Aoyama who may have been selected for her impressive bust, but instead owns the movie with her performance. The script treats the character Seiko as an intelligent headstrong individual and Michiko acts like it. Case in point: she looks believable as a female surgeon. How often does that happen in exploitation cinema, especially when made in a time and place with that much institutionalized misogyny?

Director Seiichi Fukuda made many of these movies but all others are lost. Definitely a pity, as judging by this film the man was undeniably talented. The tunnel sequence at the end can even be called great, with some strong suspense kicking in.


Conclusion:

Granted, my expectations were low and that may be part of the reason why I was so pleasantly surprised. But instead of settling for silly sex film or gory sensationalism, "Madame O" actually turns into an artful psychological thriller, complete with a riveting finale. And yes, there still is some silly sex and gory sensationalism left in for those people looking for it.


About the DVD:

Synapse has released "Madame O" on a region-free disc in NTSC format.
As mentioned, only the English soundtrack is there and there are no subtitles. Apart from that, video and audio are fine, in fact they are far better than I expected. Sure the image is a bit soft at times and has artifacts, but it never gets as bad as what was done on purpose in "Grindhouse".

It will be no surprise that extras for this film are not plentiful, but Synapse is to be commended for the two they did include. The first extra is the only one on the disc: the original trailer for the Radley Metzger release, and it's interesting for having tinted all the black-and-white footage in wildly differing colors.

The second extra is a sheet with liner notes by Japanese exploitation cinema expert Jasper Sharp. Short though it is, it's bursting with interesting information and sheds some much-needed light on the history of this film.

All in all a decent release of a very rare film.
It's not perfect, but if you are interested in this title there is no reason to avoid this edition.

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