Amorous Sisters (Julchen und Jettchen, 1982)

Julchen und Jettchen (retitled Amorous Sisters in the U.S.) is a 1982 sex comedy produced, directed and co-written by Erwin C. Dietrich. For some bizarre reason it was released in Britain as Come Play with Me 3 although it has not the slightest connection with Come Play with Me or Come Play with Me 2.

The Swiss producer Erwin C. Dietrich was one of the legendary figures in European exploitation cinema for decades. He directed a lot of movies including numerous softcore erotic films. His best-known directorial effort is probably the very stylish Rolls-Royce Baby (1975) starring Lina Romay.

Julchen und Jettchen is set in an exclusive girls’ school in Switzerland.

Julchen (Brigitte Lahaie) and Jettchen (Flore Sollier) are sisters and both are students at the school. In the English dub they are renamed Jenny and Juliet respectively. It seems to be a very small school. In fact there seem to be only seven pupils and one teacher. And the only subject on the curriculum seems to be sex education. Luckily it’s a subject in which the girls have a keen interest. They know the theory but they’re anxious for some practical experience.

They practise a lot on their own, and with each other. They are fast learners. And they don't mind doing their homework.

There really is virtually no main plot. There is a kind of sub-plot about a body builder and his wife (in which Julchen und Jettchen eventually become involved). The movie is a series of brief episodes very loosely connected.

The girls’ progress in class is accelerated by the unexpected opportunity to observe live specimens, both male and female. They have a day out in the countryside. They sneak a man into their dorm. Their teacher, Mademoiselle Blanche (Barbara Moose), being dedicated to her job, brushes up on her own practical skills. This is not just satisfactory from Mademoiselle Blanche’s point of view, it provides considerable entertainment for her pupils who are observing these events with a great deal of scholarly interest.

The body builder spends hours training every day. His body is in peak physical condition. His muscles function like precision machines. Except for one particular muscle, which happens to be the muscle in which his wife is most interested. Apparently that muscle ceased to function some time ago, much to the wife’s disappointment. Eventually, in an unforeseen way, Julchen und Jettchen will come to the rescue and restore marital bliss.

There is an astounding amount of nudity, mostly but not exclusively female. The female nudity is very explicit. There’s lots of sex, including numerous sapphic couplings. The sex scenes are moderately graphic. If that sort of thing bothers you then this movie is not for you. If it appeals to you then you’ve hit the mother lode.

The acting is perfectly adequate. The women are very attractive and they’re also charming and likeable. Brigitte Lahaie is of course the film’s biggest drawcard.

If you’re going to make a movie with no plot but with acres of nudity the question arises - can you make it cinematically interesting as well? The answer in this case is yes. The solution adopted is to find clever, inventive and amusing reasons for the young ladies to shed their clothes and to shoot the sex scene in slightly offbeat and unusual ways that you’re not expecting. And Dietrich was technically proficient and in his unassuming way reasonably stylish. This is classy well-crafted erotica.

This movie is refreshingly free of the sniggering quality one sometimes encounters in British and American movies of this type. It’s also mercifully free of social messaging. It does not attempt to examine the human condition. It has no artistic statements to make. It’s a lighthearted comic erotic movie that has zero pretensions to being anything else and it’s totally unembarrassed and unapologetic about it. And it’s very good-natured. These are nice people. You don’t want anything bad to happen to them, and nothing bad does happen. Nobody gets punished for having sexual desires.

The naked butterfly hunt is a definite highlight. As everyone knows if you’re going to hunt butterflies you must first remove all your clothing. And it’s shot in slow-motion. It makes no sense but it has an oddly lyrical feel.

There’s picturesque scenery, which doesn’t hurt.

The only fair way to judge a movie is to ask whether it achieves what it set out to achieve. Dietrich set out to make a fun happy amusing very sexy movie. This film achieves those objectives admirably and therefore has to be regarded as a complete success. It’s not Citizen Kane but it’s a very good movie of its genre and if you enjoy that genre it’s highly recommended.

Julchen und Jettchen is now available on Blu-Ray. My copy was a bonus DVD included with Jess Franco’s Die Sklavinnen (1977). The only connection between these two movies is that both were produced by Erwin C. Dietrich. Apart from that they’re a million miles away in tone and approach (although they’re both good in their very different ways).

I’ve also reviewed the Erwin C. Dietrich-directed Rolls-Royce Baby (1975) which is also a very good movie of its type.