**Chronicle of a metamorphosis**
The film, directed by childhood friends Jon Fontana and Artie Mitchell, unfolds through a fragmented chronology that explores the psychological and sexual evolution of Eve, its protagonist. The film employs three different actresses to portray different stages of her life: Nancy Weich (Eve as a teenager), Mimi Morgan (Eve before the accident), and Marilyn Chambe... Read more
**Chronicle of a metamorphosis**
The film, directed by childhood friends Jon Fontana and Artie Mitchell, unfolds through a fragmented chronology that explores the psychological and sexual evolution of Eve, its protagonist. The film employs three different actresses to portray different stages of her life: Nancy Weich (Eve as a teenager), Mimi Morgan (Eve before the accident), and Marilyn Chambers (Eve after reconstructive surgery).
“Resurrection of Eve” begins by exposing a childhood trauma: the teenage protagonist is sexually abused by her deceased father’s best friend, an event that marks her initial repression and feelings of guilt. Years later, as an adult, Eve is in a relationship with Frank Paradise (Matthew Armon), a popular San Francisco radio DJ, whose character is possessive and deeply jealous. After a bitter argument sparked by Eve’s attendance at a Johnnie Keyes boxing match, Frank hurls racist insults at her. In her emotional escape, Eve suffers a horrific car accident that disfigures her face.
The symbolic "resurrection" occurs after extensive plastic surgery. With her new appearance, Eve tries to save her relationship with Frank, who encourages her to participate in the swinger lifestyle. Although initially horrified by the hedonism of orgies, Eve ultimately experiences a radical liberation. The narrative climax occurs when the roles are reversed: while Eve fully embraces her sexuality and consummates her secret desire with Johnnie Keyes, Frank succumbs to the insecurity and jealousy he tried to overcome, finally losing control over her.
This sensational film stands as one of the most sophisticated and ambitious pieces of the period known as "Porno Chic." Unlike its predecessor directed by the Mitchell brothers, “Behind the Green Door” this work constructs a solid psychological drama grounded in sexual politics and power dynamics within a couple. It took advantage of the media attention generated by Marilyn Chambers' stardom in the adult film, adding an extra layer of morbidity since, just before "Behind the Green Door," Chambers had been the pretty face of an ad for a well-known brand of soap (Proctor & Gamble’s ‘Ivory Soap girl’). The manufacturer considered the actress's change of interpretive discipline an unforgivable offense, especially since the ads were still airing on television. Of course, "Resurrection of Eve" did not even remotely approach the success or box office of its predecessor (which, by the way, had some profits that multiplied by a thousand the total amount of its production costs, including video sales). And this is partly because the story addresses taboo subjects for the time, in a serious and unusual way: racism, childhood trauma, and the hypocrisy of the sexual liberation movement of the 1970s, where the supposed freedom proposed by men became a prison of insecurities when women exercised it with real autonomy.
The decision to use three actresses for the same role is an interesting narrative tool to underscore the fragmentation of the protagonist's identity, while the art direction and the soundtrack by Richard DF Wynkoop's contribute a melancholic urban atmosphere that departs from the utilitarian aesthetic of conventional adult films.
“Resurrection of Eve” is a seminal work of the “Golden Age” of adult cinema that elegantly uses this genre to perform a cynical and lucid dissection of modern relationships and racial prejudices in American culture, still so ignominious.Show less
