It is not generally my practice to review movies that I dislike to any great degree. However, one or two times a year, I temporarily set aside my rule to only comment on things I like to give a word of warning. I find it more enjoyable to comment on something I like and boost it than I do shooting at bad movies. But some "movies" cry out for the razor.

Bilitis is one of them. The cinematography isn't the only aspect that is blurry and out of focus here. An almost indiscernible plot (certainly incoherent, if there even is one) bad acting, cheesy script and awful pacing. Those are its major problems.

Understand, I firmly believe that not all movies are created equal and films should be judged according to their category. It is not reasonable to judge, say, Beach Blanket Bingo against Gone With the Wind. I judge Bilitis against other movies in its weight class. Measured against movies like Emmanuelle or Secrets of a Chambermaid, it comes off very badly indeed. Even eye-candy has to be entertaining and Bilitis most definitely is not.

Bilitis (Patti d'Arbanville) attends an all-girl school that is about to break for summer... Once on vacation, Bilitis comes to hold with her developing sexuality and strikes up a romantic liaison with a local boy… A secondary romance concerns Bilitis' female guardian and her new husband…

The treatment of sensuality is soft and beautiful, which is in keeping with Hamilton's style of photography… At the beginning of the film, we see the sweet, sensual bodies of the schoolgirls exuberantly bathing in a mountain lake…

When Bilitis is finally seduced, it is exaggerated romance, heavily diffused, implying rather than showing their coupling… The lovemaking between the married couple is equally stylized, but more steamy

This is the debut of David Hamilton, a well known photographer from the seventies. Contrary to the other commentator I found this a marvelous film, but you have to look at it from a certain perspective. If you are looking for a good script, for profundity of conversation, for strong acting, this film will not appeal to you. But if you approach it like a Monnet painting, Debussy music or a Marcel Proust novel, you might just love it. It's the kind of movie that pays off to those who love lingering about in a small French village over summer without too much hassle. Appreciate it like the best of impressionist art, just to enjoy its simple and straight forward beauty, and you will be drawn into a wonderful world, longing to live amidst flowers, fresh life, warm summers in the countryside, swimming in the sea, having your first love etc...