Vice and Virtue (Le vice et la vertu) gets of to an inherently fascinating start, but just about midpoint takes a sharp turn toward the excesses that would mark Vadim's later career. The movie takes its basic plot and characters from the Marquis de Sade, setting them in decedent Nazi-occupied Paris, from just before the Invasion of Normandy until the end of the war. Today the movie is remembered primarily as Catherine Deneuve's first major film role, shot when she was barely nineteen.

The story revolves around two Parisian sisters, Juliette (Annie Girardot) and Justine (Deneuve). On church steps immediately following her wedding, the Gestapo arrests Justine's French Résistance husband, childhood sweetheart Jean (Jean-Pierre Honoré).

Desperate, Justine locates "pro-Me" sister Juliette (as she describes herself), who has been sleeping her way up the food chain of Nazi occupiers, currently as the mistress of General von Bamberg (O.E. Hasse). For this reason the sisters have long been estranged; their mother refuses to let Justine even visit Juliette. Nevertheless Justine pleads with Juliette to use her influence to get Jean released. Juliette refuses.

Soon however, Jean escapes custody, briefly calling Justine from a payphone to assure her that he's been released from jail. She mistakenly thinks this was von Bamberg's doing, and awkwardly visits Justine's luxurious home to personally thank the general for this act of mercy.

Meanwhile, SS Colonel Schörndorf (Robert Hossein) arrives, fatally poisons von Bamberg and orders Juliette to aid him in covering up the murder as an ordinary heart attack. Almost at once she becomes his new mistress. Elsewhere, Juliette is arrested and eventually both sisters wind up at "the Commander," a château, castle in this instance, where beautiful women are dressed like Greek goddesses and forced to serve the depraved needs of high-ranking SS and other important Nazis. Schorndorf names Juliette an "equal" among the sadists lording over the estate, while Justine is forced to serve, in constant fear of severe punishment for the slightest infraction.

By its very nature, the first half of Vice and Virtue is pretty fascinating, focusing as it does on tensions between the 300,000 Nazi occupiers, who in the movie treat conquered France the same way drunken fraternity students regard Daytona Beach, i.e., one endless party. France survived the first part of the war largely unscathed by battles and bombings, but its citizens were forced to choose sides. Only about 2% of the adult population was actively involved in the Resistance; instead, most Frenchmen and women endured the occupation as best they could, though many collaborated with the Nazis or officially served the Vichy government. During the war, Vadim himself lived with his mother in a hostel in the French Alps, which served as a way station for refugees.

Tensions are palpable during this part of the film. The material with Deneuve is pretty weak, partly because she was all too very clearly a novice actress at this point, like a deer caught in the headlights. But all of the early scenes with Giradot's character are extremely interesting. Juliette would rather eat caviar with Nazis than starve and maybe get shot supporting the Resistance. She knows her place among them, its limitations, and the price she's paying for morally selling out, yet she has no regrets. For her personal needs, the advantages outweigh the cost.

Interestingly, while her Nazi lovers alternately desire her while at the same time regard her as a mere "French whore," she's equally blunt, openly acknowledging that she's using them only to assure her personal comfort, and that when the war is inevitably lost, she'll simply switch sides and find a British officer to latch onto.

With a title like Vice and Virtue, Deneuve's Justine is predictably virtuous while Girardot's Juliette has more than her fair share of vices. Justine is too pure for the film's good; a little bit of shading and ambiguity might have helped. Juliette's character, however, walks a fine line. In the film's best scene, Schörndorf deliberately leaves her alone in a darkened room adjacent to an interrogation space where a French prisoner is being tortured. Schörndorf, apparently, is sexually aroused by her revulsion. What's interesting though is her reaction, trying not to care, knowing that he's testing her and trying to stay detached even though it's against basic human decency. It's a well-directed scene, and she gives an impressive performance her especially.

Once at the château, Vice and Virtue becomes increasingly silly, like a proto-Salon Kitty (Tinto Brass's 1976 sex/Nazisploitation film) though its last act is enhanced by the presence of Luciana Paluzzi as one of the prisoner-courtesans. (One is constantly amazed by the diversity of Paluzzi's career. The same year she made this she also appeared in a Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello Beach Party movie and an episode of the sitcom Hazel.) During the film's last act, Vadim also goes way overboard with theatrical lighting effects, a further distraction.

Probably using props and costumes left over from The Longest Day, Vice and Virtue looks slick and polished, though anachronistic hairstyles and women's makeup spoils the effect somewhat. The Parisian sets (and one later in Berlin) are odd, a jumble of Art Deco, Streamline Moderne and ‘60s style, vaguely suggesting pre-war Weimar Berlin but simultaneously the excesses of Vadim's later work.

Video & Audio

Shot in 2.35:1 Franscope and in black-and-white, Gaumont's transfer of Vice and Virtue looks superb, essentially flawless. The image is razor sharp with excellent blacks and contrast throughout, which the French-only 2.0 LPCM mono (with removable English subtitles) is likewise strong. The disc is region A locked while the packaging includes reversible cover art; this reviewer much preferred the original French poster art on the back. The lone Extra Feature is an original French trailer, also in high-def and as good looking as the main feature.

Parting Thoughts

Vice and Virtue falls apart in its last act, but the entire film is interesting, with an excellent performance by Girardot and slick production values that still impress, while Gaumont's transfer is a real treat for the eyes. Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian and publisher-editor of World Cinema Paradise. His credits include film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features.