I'm Yours to Take (1978) User Reviews

A lavish production

[augustian · 7/10 · 2 December 2016]

Director Francis Leroi has pulled out all the stops for this Euro porn film. The action takes place at a French château and he freely uses the location and the sprawling grounds to good effect. There seems to be nothing in the production to criticise at all, though perhaps seeing a bit more of the gorgeous Brigitte Lahaie would have been very welcome.

The plot starts off with a newly married couple arriving at the château, but what is this? The husband leaves his bride at home while he enjoys himself at the local brothel. The mystery deepens as Helen turns from the blushing bride into a rampant nymphomaniac, having sex with the staff at every opportunity. It couldn't have something to do with her bedtime milk, could it?

Considering that this is a hardcore porn film, the writing of a mystery into it is a welcome addition to the film although it must be said that the clues are a bit too obvious. Never mind though, for anyone into Euro porn, this one should be in your collection.

Very Well Photographed

[SMK-4 · 8/10 · 5 March 2002]

As far as stylish softporn movies go, they hardly ever come more slick and stylish than Just Jaeckin's "Histoire d'O". And would you believe it: with this film Francis Leroi attempts a variation of the same story, slicker and even more stylish, but as a hardcore pornographic movie. Such an attempt appears to be doomed from the start, but to my own amazement I have to concede that Leroi actually succeeds in this undertaking.

The biggest asset of the film is its glorious cinematography. I am not kidding; yes, it's porn, and yes, it's beautifully lit and shot. I have watched quite a few porn flicks in my time, and this is by a very long way the best-photographed of them all.

Film connoisseurs might also enjoy the reference to Alfred Hitchcock's film "Suspicion" - and this time the milk is spiked, though not with poison. Given the genre, you probably can guess the purpose of the extra ingredient.

one of the best - tastefully shot and executed explicit erotica

[duhduh666 · 16 July 2002]

This is without doubt the best or one of the best Brigitte Lahaie films,the gorgeous french actress.The film is wonderfully shot(if you enjoy long and wide-screen cinematography), has a coherent story line that is easy to follow and has a lot of brigitte lahaie screen time.fortunately a dozen or so brigitte lahaie films are available on the net or at auction sites.I would recommend this feature to all lovers of sexually explicit and erotic cinema.

Innocence Lost the French Way

[Nodriesrespect · 10/10 · 12 August 2007]

The late Francis Leroi abandoned his customary bourgeois-bashing for this, arguably his masterpiece, and the results are none the worse for it.

France's most popular adult film actress of all time, Brigitte Lahaie, who has never looked or acted better, stars as the blushing bride of brooding lord of the manor Patrick Bruno, a handsome man as well as a competent thespian whose only other credit seems to have been for Lois Koenigswerther's indistinguishable JE SUIS AVIDE D'HOMMES, notable only for a rare hardcore appearance by soft-core siren Gilda Arancio. Once they have arrived at his luxurious château however, Bruno all but ignores his youthful spouse and her perfectly natural yearning for carnal consummation.

A practicing libertine himself, as amply evidenced by his frequent visits to the local brothel, he wants to assure his inexperienced wife will fit right into his self-styled decadent existence before committing to her both sexually and emotionally. Punctuated by spiked glasses of milk at bedtime, Brigitte is submitted to a sizzling series of intimate initiations instigated by maid Karine Gambier (of Jess Franco's delirious SEXY SISTERS fame), stable boy Jean-Pierre Armand and elderly butler Robert Leray.

Basically, that's the full amount of plot there is, yet this film is conspicuously separated from meat 'n' potatoes porn by the director's achingly erotic build-up to each carnal crescendo. Leroi takes his merry time seducing the viewer, something female viewers (especially those into romance novels and, considering their sales figures, they must be legion) should particularly appreciate, with Lahaie's wide-eyed innocent being gradually ravished, culminating in a sturdy sandwich sequence, which was still something of an uncommon occurrence in '70s porn.

Additional highlights include the lady's passionate Mills & Boon tryst with Armand amid the horses and her insidious Sapphic education at the hands of the deliciously depraved Gambier, their flawless bodies strewn with whithered autumn leaves, accompanied by the haunting whistling of the wind on the soundtrack.

The imagination-fueling location is put to exemplary use by François About's phenomenal widescreen cinematography and even the unsettling, softly tinkling (and distinctly non-porno type) music genuinely adds to the overwhelming atmosphere of dread mixed with mounting delight. This talented filmmaker may have concocted movies more lavish and popular (PETITES FILLES AU BORDEL and REVES DE CUIR immediately come to mind) but this is his standout achievement by far, making it one of the finest European adult movies ever by definition.