1998 erotic film
| Constance |
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| Directed by | Knud Vesterskov |
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| Written by | Knud Vesterskov |
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| Produced by | Lene Børglum
Christian Sylvest |
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| Starring | Katja Kean
Anaïs
Mark Duran
Niels Dencker |
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| Cinematography | Steen Møller Rasmussen |
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| Edited by | Rikke Malene Nielsen |
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| Music by | Peter Kyed
Peter Peter |
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| Distributed by | Team Video Plus (Denmark)
Magma (Germany) |
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Release date | |
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Running time | 70 minutes |
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| Country | Denmark |
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| Language | Danish |
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Constance is a 1998 feminist erotic film directed by Knud Vesterskov and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa. It was the first hardcore pornographic film ever to have been produced by an established mainstream film studio.[1]
Constance is based on the Puzzy Power Manifesto[2] developed by Zentropa in 1997, and was the first in a series of pornographic films aimed particularly at a female audience.[3] The others would be Zentropa's Pink Prison (1999) and All About Anna (2005).
Plot
A young woman, Constance (Anaïs), arrives at the mansion of the experienced Lola (Katja Kean), where she is initiated into the mysteries of sexuality. The story is told in flashback via a framing device with lyrical diary excerpts and narration read by mainstream actresses Christiane Bjørg Nielsen and Hella Joof. (In the English-language version, narration is by Danish actress Susan Olsen and Helle Fagralid).
Critical reception
The film was shown in mainstream cinemas in Europe, and was reviewed by mainstream film critics.[4] The Stockholm Film Festival arranged a special screening in Stockholm on Valentine's Day.[4]
Constance became a considerable success, and generated considerable hype, especially in Scandinavia.[4] It was nominated for three AVN Awards: Best Art Direction - Video; Best Music; and Best Videography. The reaction of film critics was "mixed."[4]
In 2006, it was in part this film's claim of mainstream audience viewing behind a process that ended up with porn being legalized in Norway.[5]
In September 2007, German weekly magazine Stern wrote: "Women too like to see other people having sex. What they don't like is the endless close-ups of hammering bodyparts without a story. Lars von Trier is the first to have realised this and produced valuable quality porn films for women."[6]
