Joy and Joan

As far as "anonymous"-written soft-core pornographic books go, the Joy series can be considered a classic with Fanny Hill and The Story of O. Certainly not as well known as the others, but fairly erotic and entertaining...

Joy: Chapter 2 is an adaptation of the second book (usually titles Joy and Joan); as an adaptation, it barely follows in the book's tracks. As soft-core in its own right, however, it's a great movie.

Joy is played by Brigitte Lahaie- a distinctive looking (and beautiful) actress known mostly in America for her role as a prostitute in Henry & June, but known more in Europe for being a former hardcore porn actress and star of many exploitation films afterwards. Basically, in this film, Joy runs away from her sexually-abusive husband, and goes overseas. There she meets and becomes sexually involved with a young woman (girl in the book), while being tailed by a man whose intentions are unknown.

Obviously, the main draw of this film isn't the story, but the sex scenes- which are plenty. Brigitte is, as mentioned above, unique looking- she is not your run-of-the-mill sex kitten. She takes her role and runs with it; no matter how non-explicit her scenes are, she's great to watch, and she really knows what she's doing during the sex scenes. Her female partner (whose real name escapes me) also comes across well; she seems to be younger and energetic, and she provides a contrast to the more mature and thoughtful role Brigitte plays.

Are there better movies of this type? Probably. Are there better Brigitte Lahaie movies? Probably. But Joy: Chapter 2 is still an entertaining romp, that may just make you into a fan of Brigitte, too.