Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Table of contents
Introduction and Context
Jean Rollin’s 1973 Jeunes filles impudiques—alternately titled Schoolgirl Hitchhikers or Girls without Shame—stands as a curious artifact of French exploitation cinema. Known for his avant-garde erotic horror films, Rollin here leans into the gritty, sensationalist tropes of the genre while retaining his penchant for surreal imagery. Released during a wave of European sexploitation, the film blends crime thriller elements with Rollin’s signature dreamlike aesthetic, offering a paradoxical mix of titillation and artistry that defies straightforward categorization.
Cast and Performances
The film’s pseudo-lesbian protagonists, played by aspiring actors Joëlle Cœur and Gilda Arancio (credited as Gilda Stark), anchor its pulpy narrative. The pair had met on the set of Max Pécas’ I Am Frigid… Why? (1972), a cheeky sex comedy that foreshadowed their collaboration here. Cœur, a former model for photonovels and risqué magazines, embraced her first leading role as the vivacious brunette, infusing the film with infectious joie de vivre. Her character—a playful, bisexual adventurer—navigates the story’s erotic escapades with magnetic enthusiasm, though Rollin adheres to softcore conventions (no explicit close-ups or penetration, no full-frontal male nudity). Cœur’s performance, balancing innocence and audacity, carries the film and hints at her later turn as the wicked muse in Rollin’s The Demoniacs (1974). Her career, however, was brief; disinterested in the industry’s shift toward hardcore, she retired around 1976, married psychotherapist Paul Boyesen, and reinvented herself as a “psycho-organic” therapist under her married name. She remained detached from her cinematic past, declining interviews for later Rollin retrospectives until her death in July 2024.
Arancio, as the timid blonde foil, embodies the era’s archetypal “victim” with a fragile allure. A newcomer at the time, she later became a staple of Eurociné’s exploitation machine, appearing in over 40 films under various pseudonyms. Her résumé included nude inserts for westerns like Convoy of Women (1974) and collaborations with Jesús Franco, though Rollin’s autobiography fondly recalls her pragmatic problem-solving during a fraught scene: When a car-set love scene risked exposing male anatomy, Arancio quipped, “He can simply put it in, we will not see it.” The exchange hints at scrapped plans for a harder version, though the theatrical cut remains coy.
Visual Style and Atmosphere
Rollin’s direction imbues the film with a haunting, if threadbare, beauty. The decaying mansion becomes a character in itself—its shadowy corridors and dust-choked rooms evoking a Gothic eeriness juxtaposed with the sunlit pastoral landscapes outside. Cinematographer Jean-Jacques Renon bathes scenes in muted tones, contrasting the idyllic French countryside with the claustrophobic dread of the hideout. Rollin’s lingering close-ups on Stark and Coeur emphasize their performative innocence, while abrupt cuts to the thief’s brutality heighten the film’s uneasy tension. Though budget constraints are evident, the dreamlike pacing and symbolic visuals (a recurring Rollin trait) lend the film an unexpected poeticism.
Themes and Reception
At its core, Jeunes filles impudiques interrogates the intersection of desire and danger. The women’s flirtation with rebellion—both sexual and societal—mirrors the thief’s lawless greed, creating a volatile triangle of exploitation. Rollin’s ambivalence toward his protagonists’ agency reflects the era’s conflicted portrayal of liberated femininity, veering between empowerment and objectification. Contemporary reviews dismissed the film as schlock, typical of the critical disdain for exploitation fare, though modern reassessments acknowledge its atmospheric ambition. The lesbian undertones, a Rollin staple, are rendered with more suggestion than explicitness, leaving much to the viewer’s interpretation.
Legacy and Conclusion
While not among Rollin’s most celebrated works (The Iron Rose or The Grapes of Death), Jeunes filles impudiques remains a fascinating curio for cult cinema enthusiasts. Its melding of crime thriller mechanics with erotic surrealism foreshadows the director’s later, more polished experiments. The film also serves as a time capsule for its leads: Cœur’s radiant charisma and abrupt exit from the spotlight contrast with Arancio’s prolific but anonymous grindhouse tenure. Today, the movie occupies a niche space—a testament to Rollin’s ability to elevate salacious material through visual lyricism, even as it remains entrenched in the bygone drive-in era and grindhouse milieu.
The Video
Girls Without Shame was scanned, restored and color corrected in 4K HDR at Renasci Films using the original 35mm negative. Many thousands of instances of dirt were removed, scratches, stains and other imperfections eliminated, and a number of torn or damaged frames repaired. No grain management, edge enhancement or sharpening tools were employed to artificially alter the image in any way. The film is presented in a 1.66:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement on 4K disc. The image is rich in natural, crisp grain that provides palpable texture and detail to the image. The Dolby Vision grading offers vibrant colors like the plum-colored dress on the female head of the jewel thief and the red fire engine red of the private detective’s assistant’s dress There is also good pop in the specular highlights.
The Audio
The sound is in French DTS-HD 1.0 and the English dub is in the same. The dub sounds basically of the same quality of the French original. The dialogue for both versions is clear as is the music, but the dynamics are a bit limited.
The Supplements
Limited Edition Contents:
- World premiere on 4K UHD
- Limited edition of 10,000 individually numbered units (6,000 4K UHDs and 4,000 Blu-rays) for the UK and US
- Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Lucas Balbo, material from the film’s pressbook, an archival article on the French sex-film industry featuring an interview with ‘Michel Gentil’ (Jean Rollin), an archival interview with Willy Braque, new writing on Sexana, and full film credits
Bonus Features:
- Audio Commentary with David Flint
- Nicolas Stanzick: Territoire mental (1080p; 00:24:40) — Critical appreciation by journalist and musician Nicolas Stanzick
- Cristophe Bier: Les Quatre années de cinema de Joëlle Cœur (1080p; 00:29:11) — Filmed appreciation of the enigmatic softcore performer by actor, director and film historian Christophe Bier
- Theatrical Trailer (4K; 00:01:25)
- Image Gallery (1080p)
- Sexana (1972) — New 4K presentation of Hubert Lacoudre’s surreal erotic short film starring Joëlle Cœur, featuring a new score by the experimental instrumental group Peninsula:
- With Peninsula Score (4K; 00:16:33)
- Silent (4K; 00:16:33)
- Nicolas Stanzick: Sexana de minuit à midi (1080p; 00:10:29) — Stanzick analyses Sexana and the culture surrounding the legendary film magazine Midi-Minuit Fantastique
- Image Gallery (1080p)
The Final Assessment
For viewers willing to navigate its uneven edges, Jeunes filles impudiques or Girls Without Shame offers a haunting, if flawed, glimpse into the darker corners of 1970s European cinema and the fleeting careers of its enigmatic stars. Powerhouse/Indicator once again do what they are great at – resurrect a grindhouse flick and elevate its A/V quality to the same level some of the finest films you will see in collections from Criterion or StudioCanal. They couple this with beautiful packaging, hefty bonus features, and collectible perfect-bound booklet with good reading. Highly recommended for genre fans.
Girls without Shame is out on 4K Ultra HD May 26, 2025 from Indicator
Details
- Rating Certificate: R
- Studios & Distributors: Indicator
- Director: Jean Rollin (as Michel Gentil)
- Written By: Jacques Orth (as Jack Régis)
- Run Time: 80 Mins.
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
- HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
- Primary Audio: French DTS-HD MA 1.0
- Secondary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 1.0
- Subtitles: English