L'Annee des Meduses (1984, Fr.) (aka Year of the Jellyfish)

In this pretty-to-look-at exploitational erotic thriller - a tale of sexual intrigue from France, it was based on writer/director Christopher Frank's own book, and masqueraded as an art-house film. Amazingly, Caroline Cellier won the Cesar Award (French) for Best Actress – Supporting Role. In the same year, its sexy star Kaprisky also appeared in the artsy La Femme Publique (1984, Fr.) (aka The Public Woman). It featured the tagline regarding the central female 'jellyfish' character: "Summer, the south of France... She's 18, less than perfect, and dangerous."

• the film opened on the gorgeous beaches of the South of France at Saint-Tropez, introducing various young females, including: Dorothee (Betty Assenza), known as "a bimbo," and Miriam (Charlotte Kady), Dorothee's slightly older friend

Suntanned Breasts: (Part of Opening Credits)	Dorothee (Betty Assenza)
(l to r): Dorothee with Friend Miriam (Charlotte Kady)

• the main characters of the erotic thriller were a mother/daughter pair who were both vacationing in S. France:
  • Chris Riveault (Valerie Kaprisky), 18 years old, a pretty, but conniving femme fatale nymphet; she was a sexually-fixated, vixenish female who was symbolically compared to a stinging jellyfish with a fatal sting; she actually sustained a jellyfish sting on her left breast while rescuing a young swimmer, which she showed off later in the casino bar; she was told by Romain that the sting-scar would never go away but admitted he didn't care
  • Claude Riveault (Caroline Cellier), Chris' 38 year-old mother, who was feeling that she was aging too rapidly: ("I'm old, inside. Nothing's like before anymore...I'm afraid...of not being able to hang it up"); her non fun-loving husband Pierre (Pierre Vaneck) remained in Paris (but would soon arrive on the scene)

Claude Riveault (Caroline Cellier) - Chris' 38 Year-Old Mother

• a menage a trois competition developed, including an exhibitionist sexual rivalry of mother-daughter toplessness; the battle was fought between Claude and Chris for the attentions of Romain Kalides (Bernard Giradeau), a rakish, smarmy gigolo Don Juanish lover whom Chris had called a misogynistic "pimp" at the port and in the villas because "he hunts the girls on the beach. He's a provider"; he had nicknamed Chris "Salome" - referring to the seductive temptress who caused the beheading of John the Baptist
• Chris grew suspicious of Romain, because she knew that he often lured topless sunbathers to his yacht Alauna III for sex, such as Dorothee, and then pimped them out to others. [Note: There were hints in the film that Chris also been lured there as a 16 year-old schoolgirl by him.]

Chris (Valerie Kaprisky) on the Topless French Beaches

• Chris also recommenced an awkward affair with an older man - it was a reunion with a long-time acquaintance: Vic Lamotte (Jacques Perrin), a long-time family friend and married businessman (with two young boys) to Marianne (Béatrice Agenin); he was middle-aged, gray-haired, and still guilt-ridden - he had impregnated Chris two years earlier, and she had no choice but to have an abortion; he still retained lingering affection for her (although she was now toying with his love - described by the narrator as manipulation: "She was enjoying that kind of satisfaction")
• it became clear, through a lengthy flashback, that he had known her earlier when she was just a provocative and amoral 16 year-old school-girl; at first, he had secretly visited her bedroom when she was asleep while he was visiting with other older friends, and they kissed; then, in her bedroom, they were both naked in bed together; she told him that she needed to be on the pill now that they were having sex: "Are you crazy or what?...I didn't think you would do this..I have to ask my mother for the pill. If you think that's easy"; he apologized

School Girl Chris' Growing Sexual Affair with Vic - One Visit

• in a later encounter when he snuck away for a 45-minute quickie from his family to be with her, she eagerly disrobed; he hugged her, and then began to move down to kiss her sexually; she pushed him away: "No, it's not for a man...I don't like it"; she expressed her exasperation with her teacher's aide friend Danni who was envious of her and was always monitoring her every action; according to her, Danni had threatened to notify Vic's wife Marianne about their affair, but held off when Chris promised never to see him again; Chris abruptly dismissed Vic: "Your wife must be waiting for you"

A Second Visit Between Chris and Vic

• upon his return home, Vic's wife Marianne told him that Claude had called with worry about her daughter Chris now pregnant at age 16, possibly fathered by a teenaged boy, and would inevitably require an abortion. A short time later in his car, Chris insisted to Vic that their relationship was now over: ("This is where it ends, Vic. Next time, I'll just be the daughter of your friends")
• therefore, the newly-revived relationship between Vic and Chris two years later remained poisoned; she had promised to herself to never get involved with him again, but they continued to see each other on-and-off, and she made herself irresistible to him by continually taunting and teasing him; during their brief get-togethers, they often kissed, and once when they parted, she suggested: "Think of me; another time, she wondered if they could get married and have children, but in the next sentence, she told Vic to return "to your s--tty comfort, to your s--tty life"; she called him "weak" for not leaving everything for her, and then told him: "You don't know what you want"; she knew that she always yielded power and sex over him that could lure him back to her
• meanwhile, Romain was inviting numerous female sunbathers to his yacht Alauna III for sex, including Dorothee, and as Chris had predicted, he pimped her out to an older rich man named Guttaz (Jean-Paul Dubarry); Romain also began to persistently romance Chris' own mother Claude for sex, although initially, she was basically disinterested in him and could see through his lies; she often referred to the personal insult he gave her when he told her she was "too old" for his pimping business; Chris learned that her mother was lying about secretly seeing Romain, and it intensified their love-triangle rivalry
• during Claude's time when invited onto Romain's yacht, Claude initiated his sexual seduction of her by suggestively prompting: "Start the conversation"; during talk afterwards while she was naked in his arms, he asked what she was thinking about, and she responded by bluntly describing the difference between love and sex: "About my Mother. What my Mother said about love. 'I don't understand all this fuss and such a waste of time for a matter of orifice'"
• afterwards, Chris seemed to be jealous that her older (though gorgeous) mother was attracting the attention of Romain, and that they had begun to see each other on a regular basis; soon after, Claude met up again with Romain and they had sex on a nighttime beach, even though she called him "a piece of garbage"; their sexcapades became short-lived when he became tired of her
• meanwhile at the beach, Chris and Claude had become friends with another married vacationing German couple: Peter Casteline (Antoine Nikola) and Barbara (Barbara Nielsen), Peter's wife

Barbara and Peter (Antoine Nikola)

Barbara (Barbara Nielsen)

Chris Lesbian-Kissing Barbara

• to cause trouble and remain in competition with her mother, Chris encouraged the young couple to join in a threesome with her back in their hotel room after clubbing; she initiated a lesbian-kiss with Barbara that brought issues to the surface, and soon learned that Peter abruptly left to return to Germany the next morning without Barbara who had remained behind; Chris thought Peter's departure was an excuse, and then told Barbara some startling news: "He told me he no longer loved you. He did not know how to tell you"; according to Chris, Peter had orchestrated the set-up to break up their marriage, and then planned to later meet up with Chris in Paris, but Chris had refused; this was devastating to Barbara - she broke down
• in a dramatic climactic scene, Chris blackmailed Romain into taking her on a late-night date on his yacht by threatening to reveal his affair with her mother Claude: ("Or else I tell my father everything"); she reasoned about how he could use their date as an alibi: "You could use this as an alibi...For you. I'm protecting the mother. Not, I want to go out with the daughter"; the narrator described how jellyfish were invading the shore - the film's thematic connection to Chris: "The jellyfish were creeping in by the thousands, discreetly invading the shore like a chorus walking on stage before the opening of the curtain."
• after a short time at an amusement park, Chris impatiently asked to go to his yacht; on board, the misogynistic Romain described how she was a flirtatious and heartless siren or Medusa figure - a scary femme fatale who often lured men to their doom with her sexuality. "Poor Salome who tried everything for the last two years. She follows me, tracks me down, owns me, snubs me. She flirts with me. In short, she waits for me. First, it was a 16 year old Salome, then 17 and now 18. Still here, beautiful...I thought she would tire of this, but no. She did not tire of it"
• Chris confronted him: "Why did you screw my mother?" and demanded the truth; he dismissed her without answering directly, claiming that Chris was the one who deserved to be abused and dumped because she was a spoiled little rich girl: "You don't interest me. And you can't be of any use to me. Is that clear? You scare me. You're so predictable, ordinary, obvious. It's pathetic"; he then predicted what her future life would be in a derogatory and demeaning manner: ("Chris, my beautiful. I know what you will become...You'll be less beautiful than today, but you'll be elegant, a pain in the ass"); he even compared her to her mother, but without the charm or substance: "You'll never have your mother's charm and intensity. You'll be a wife, a mother, a socialite"; when he said she would continue playing "power games," she retorted: "Your job is to f--k chicks, so f--k me"; he refused even though she said she loved him
• when she turned away from him, she noticed the water below was filled with jellyfish; [Note: She knew that he had a history of sensitivity to stings and anaphylactic shock.] she decided to become "Salome" by performing a dance in front of him: "If you call me Salome, I must be her type"; she turned on boom-box music, stripped down completely naked, and shook her breasts back and forth at him; he explained to her, prophetically, why Salome danced - "To have a man murdered"
• she then twirled in circles toward him and abruptly pushed him overboard into a sea of jellyfish; she watched from the railing above as he struggled and then went into shock and sank after being stung
• reports were that Romain's stranded yacht was found but he wasn't in it, although his body was found shortly later; Claude was worried by Romain's sudden disappearance, and expressed a desire to leave that evening; sfter he was reported dead, she expressed some grief, although Chris feigned shock
• in the final scene before leaving, Chris was swimming totally naked and sunbathing au naturel with Barbara in an outdoor pool (where Chris claimed "Bathing suits are not allowed here"); they appeared affectionate toward each other, and Chris called Barbara "cute" - "With this type of body, you don't have a place to hang on to...Usually there's a hefty side, short legs, low butt"
• the narrator ended the film - confirming that Chris had become a socialite as Romain had predicted: "Today, Chris is married to a young doctor, and has two children. She is among thousands like her. She is satisfied with her ordinary life. Of the events reported here she has nothing left. But for two scars: one on her right shoulder and the other on her left breast"