Sex Power

Introduction

The film "Sex Power" (1970) by French director Henry Chapier is his first cinematic production, after producing the documentary “Un Été Americain” in 1968. The film played in French cinemas in 1970 and won the 2nd prize (“Coquille d’Argent”) at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain that same year. The film score was composed by Vangelis, and its associated soundtrack LP release is the first album by Vangelis released in his own name.

For a long time the film managed to remain somewhat of a mystery, as after the original cinema screening the film did not find a release until June 2008, when Henry Chapier presented the film for a special screening at the Cinémathèque of Nice (France). In 2010, 40 years after the original cinema release, “Sex Power” received an official release on DVD.

The film itself is a surreal coming-of-age story set in the United States, about a young man in search of himself, and love. The music heard in the film is almost the same as the music on the soundtrack album, except for one cue, with long plaintive sounds, that is not included on the soundtrack album.

Later Vangelis would also provide the score for other productions by Henry Chapier, i.e. "Salut Jerusalem" (1972) and "Amore" (1973).

Details and credits

Sex Power (France, 1970)
Length: 81 minutes
Released in France: June 17th, 1970
Directed by Henry Chapier
Scenario: Henry Chapier
Dialogue: Pierre Mac Avoy
Cinematography: Edmond Richard
Music: Vangelis Papathanassiou
Montage: France Duez
Sound: Jacques Gerardot
Produced by Midem Productions and Parafrance
Producer: Bernard Chevry

Cast

Alain Noury
Juliette Villard (Femme fatale)
Jane Birkin (Jane)
Bernadette Lafont (Salomé)
Elga Andersen (Lorelei)
Catherine Marshall
Leila Shenna
Raquel Welch (uncredited)

Credits printed on the press sheet.

Media

DVD

2010 Doriane Films France

Synopsis

Synopsis: "Sex-Power (L'Homme Coeur) is a film about what happens when imagination takes over. It is the story of a boy (Alain Noury) in search of himself and of the real meaning of freedom: a twenty-year-old face to face with Woman, with Love.

His emotional education takes place between two journeys: a solitary trip across America -in the grip of the hippie myth- and a long oneiric odyssey on the part of the hero, who lets his mind dwell at length on the temptation provided by women other than the one who loves him. So Alain is torn by an emotional reality -his relationship with Jane (Jane Birkin)- and the wanderings of his youthful imagination. The journey that takes him from California to a desert that could be the Sahara -is it rela or imaginary? The women he dreams of -do they exist only in his mind or do they represent real encounters? Sex Power shows that ... and adventure has no real existence: as you come nearer, it drifts further away...

The ideal of symbolic women in the film are presented in the guise of characters of legend: Bernadette Lafont is Salome, Elga Andersen is Lorelei, and Juliette Villard takes up the tradition of the femme fatale.

And where is Alain at the end of his real and imaginary journeys? Sex Power provides no cut-and-dried answer, but leaves the question open; but it makes it clear that one must learn to make the most of promises and happiness, and discover, through being faithful in love, something even more valuable- how to be true to oneself."

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