REVIEWED
“Give her the beverage of ecstasy.” The High Priestess Gisele (Geziale)
I was gonna hold this off for a mini 'SadoMasoChistmas' theme I was planning on doing but screw it not like I struggle for filth - 'La Papesse' aka 'A Woman Possessed' is a cocksure bacchanalian orgy of depravity and devil worship, that managed to stay under most eurosleaze fans radars (including my own) due to being banned for years in its native country France. The simplistic plot is a messy psychedelic head trip thats all over the damn place but I'll give it a whirl trying to make a synopsis:-
Leur Demande Satanique De Majestés!... Laurent joins a pagan-satanic brotherhood for some reason the film doesn't care to shed light on (maybe it was a boyhood dream like playing football for your country or growing the worlds biggest turnip). His initiation task is to allow the sect to use his wife Aline as their pawn in any way they see fit. In order to tests Laurent's commitment the sects high priestess Gisele gets her followers to torment and torture Aline in various degrading ways. On the night of a red moon ritual, Aline manages to make a bid for freedom only shes and accidentally killed by one of the sects heavies named Borg & his pet devil dog Xavos. Laurent seemingly un-phased by his wives passing, finally passes their trial. Hes awarded for his commitment to the cause with the honor of impregnating the standing elder Gisele.
'La Papesse' is one of the wildest entries I've ever witnessed from the satanic 70's subgenre. Pick any entry you like and you're likely to get 15, 20 maybe even 25 minutes of black rituals, illicit drug use and sordid debauchery the rest is taken up with plot. With this movie you get maybe 5-10 minutes of story then an hour and half of occult madness. French filmmaker 'Mario Mercier' made 'Erotic Witchcraft'</> a similar though supposedly tamer excursion in witchcraft movies a couple of years earlier (I'll have to dig it out some time).
[Personal Reasons For Remembering]
French composer Eric De Marsan's thumping soundtrack is fantastic and haunting (another of his I so wanna lay my hands on). OOhh! and I'm still scratching my head why Laurent picked the ugly gap tooth Cher lookalike over his better looking wife.
Originally taken from Letterboxd
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