Severin Films | Buy at Amazon | Review by Jonathan Plombon
As I was reviewing JOY, it occurred to me just how difficult it is to crack jokes about a film that is well-directed, well-acted, somewhat logical, and, to a certain extent, responsible at presenting its subject matter. Thankfully, its sequel, JOY & JOAN, is none of that. If portions of JOY made it difficult to believe that this was based on a true story, then all of JOY & JOAN makes it impossible.
Any of the disjointed messages of superficial sex being an ill replacement for happiness embedded in JOY are quickly squandered. At the beginning of JOY & JOAN, Joy (this time portrayed by former hardcore porno actress and all-around jaw-dropper, Brigitte Lahaie) is back in France and being wooed by Bruce (Pierre Londiche), a near-elderly gentleman furnishing her with extravagant gifts and attention. Whether or not this is the same Bruce from JOY is up to debate, especially since his previous identity of being a caring, new-age, sexual philosopher is gone. He's now an overbearing, dictating, slave owner. That's close enough, right?
Of course, Joy still harkens back to Marc (the reigns for the sequel go to Jean-Marc Maurel) and his emotionally unattached attitude towards her. And why wouldn't she? With the exception of leaving her when she was in dire need of companionship, drugging her, allowing complete strangers to screw her against her will, and neglecting to tell her that he already has a girlfriend, Marc was, well, still an asshole.
Again, am I the only one who gets the feeling that a man wrote the source material in order to construct an incredibly offensive caricature of a woman who is nothing but a whore for the male libido?
By the way, if you're wondering what happened to Joy and her father's reunion at the conclusion of the first film, you're not alone. I am too. The script by Jean-Pierre Imbrohoris ignores it completely, along with her liberating epiphany, because, one would surmise, it's difficult to place Joy in compromising, degrading sexual positions that she secretly longs for when she, you know, has enough self-respect and confidence not to put herself in degrading sexual positions.
Anyway, Joy asks Bruce to whisk her away to Thailand. She intends to use him, his money, and his access to help reunite with Marc, whose playboy ways have landed him in the country. Swerving Bruce turns out to be the least of her problems. His palatial estate is little more than his morally deprived playground of sexually molested help and physically abused oddball assistants who cater to his every whim.
At this point, I'd like you to keep this in mind when comparing JOY with JOY & JOAN: in JOY, it takes almost an hour and a half for Joy to be drugged and raped by multiple men while her trusted boyfriend watches. IN JOY & JOAN, it occurs fifteen minutes in. Bruce carries the intoxicated female to the grotto where the party goers take turns. Not only that, but this time it happens with ballerinas dancing around. It's classy and symbolic!
The cover claims that the restored DVD "contains footage never before seen in America," which, according to the back synopsis, has been ripped from master materials seized in a Marseilles vice raid. If that's not true, I really don't want to know. I just find it a major coincidence that the missing footage from JOY & JOAN was found in a Marseilles vice raid and the missing JOY footage was discovered in the "screening room of a Paris brothel." How do these prints end up in these places? Unfortunately none of the rare footage contains any footage that would help explain what the hell is going on in the minds of any of the characters.
The next day, Joy asks Bruce why he had her gang raped. Forgive me for digressing again, but I don't know what the chances are of you dating two men who set up an elaborate plan to get you gang raped. I've known women who have gone their whole lives without it happening. Joy encounters it twice, seemingly within months of each other.
Joy escapes the clutches of Bruce with help by Millarca (Maria Isabel Lopez), the slave woman who exposes the dangers of Joy's situation as she gives her a naked massage, rubbing oils on her peach skin, crawling on top of her, and brushing her hands softly down the outer edges of her vagina. I guess if you're going to be told that there's a good chance you might die, you want it to be told to you while a woman is caressing your naked body with assorted oils.
Joy escapes the estate by jumping in a motor boat, where she soon discovers that she's being chased by one of Bruce's man-servant, Cornelius (Jacques Bryant). She jumps onto dry land, right into the arms of Marc who immediately fornicates with her in a photo booth. Not ten seconds after he zips up his pants, he informs her that he's leaving her. Right now. Right there. He jumps into a boat and rides off.
Cornelius rediscovers her whereabouts just as Marc leaves. In order to get away, Joy nonchalantly joins a sightseeing tour run by brunette Joan (Isabelle Solar, who's slightly man-ish, but in a good, still-really-busty way). They become BFFs and because of Joy's lack of funds in a foreign country, Joan suggests that Joy stay with her and a good-natured local family.
That night, Joan watches Joy unclothe, then unleashes her own bare breasts, yearning audibly for her and Joy to become intimate. Joy refuses the offer, not wanting to minimize the importance of the budding relationship. Where's this logic when it comes to her male partners?
Later that night, after being gang raped and after being chased by a madman on a boat, as well being used by the man she left Paris for, Joy is so overwhelmed with unquenchable feelings of lust that she masturbates loud enough for Joan to hear it in the next room. Soon, Joan is giving in to her satisfaction as well, using the soundtrack of Joy's moans to urge her into twirling the covers around her thighs while picking at her forbidden fruit.
It's an immaculate sight of stereo satisfaction, but if I had just been through molestation hell, no matter how strong my sexual appetite might be, I doubt I'd be masturbating to fill my leftover cravings. I love cupcakes, but I doubt I'd be clamoring to chow down one after another after I were force-fed a few hundred of them.
After a minor scuffle, Joy and Joan reconcile, hopping a train and engaging in probably the most uncomfortable sexual positions one can be in while riding a rickety train. It does, however, look great for the camera, as Joy stands, holding herself up to combat the constant vibrations of the moving train, while Joan kneels down and licks away. You think they'd just lie down, but they're in love and love sometimes hurts. And you can tell they're in love, because they hold hands in this sex scene.
From there they shack up with a friend of Joan's who runs a Philippine hotel. Of course, the owner organizes Joan and Joy's kidnapping for an underground orgy. In an "original" twist for the film series, Joy and Joan are tied up and raped by several men. However, she's soon rescued by Cornelius, who attacks the rapists. The nude rapists.
I've never seen a fight/martial arts sequence between a deformed man-servant and a bevy of nude dudes, all of whom fling their unkempt genitals around with each chop, thrust, and kick. But something tells me I'm better off for seeing it. Again, I'd like to remind the reader that the first movie was a softcore melodrama built around the message of internal respect over quick, superficial sexual encounters. Its sequel has a scene in which nude men have a martial arts scene.
The men overpower Cornelius, and he and Joy are left passed out. It's revealed that Joan ran off. The man-servant accompanies Joy to the airport where she's about to fly back to France. He reveals that the reason why he helped her out is because he's been ridiculed by women all his life and that he's in love with a similar-looking woman. Maybe screaming at her, peeking in on her as she's getting nude massages, and wielding a cane in her direction as he angrily chases her on a boat behind was not the best way to go about "helping" her out.
Back in France, Joy and Joan reunite, but just as quickly as they reconcile, Joan cheats on Joy with Marc when Joy's away on a modeling shoot. Guilt-ridden, Joan opens up to Joy about the affair.
Now one would think that this leads to either Joy learning that she can't trust anyone regardless of sex, or that she forgives Joan and they happily live together. Nope. For reasons unexplained, Joan apparently gives birth to Marc's child months later, and they decide to all live in harmony, as evidenced by the threesome at the conclusion of the film (which they participate in after putting the baby down in a crib – they got priorities). You see, Joy has finally found happiness: with the guy that drugged her and watched gleefully as she was raped by three men and the woman who cheated on her with the man who drugged her and watched gleefully as she was raped by three men.
For the naked kung-fu alone, JOY & JOAN is worth a watch. It sure doesn't hurt that the script finds any and every reason for Lahaie to show off her ass, either. All that I can say is this: recommended.
