a look at the music of Vangelis Papathanassiou

Introduction
Henry Chapier's first movie "Sex Power" is a film that in name has reached a legendary status. Not because it is such a good or bad film, no assessment can be made of its quality as yet. No, it's because of the fact that after all these years it has managed to remain undiscovered by the many people who have tried to find it. It could very well be that copies of the film still exist in one of the French film archives, but if they do then it remains to be seen if the years have not degraded the film beyond repair.

Not much is known about this film except that it played at the 1970 San Sebastian Film Festival where it won the Silver Shell Award. That year the Golden Shell award went to an Italian film named "Ondata di colore". It is likely that the film also played for some time in French cinemas, as suggested by the lobby cards displayed on the side of this page.

"Sex Power" is the only film of Henry Chapier which score has been released on a soundtrack album, nothing was ever heard from the music that Vangelis made for "Salut Jerusalem" and "Amore"...

Details and Credits
Sex Power (France, 1970)
Length: 81 minutes
Released in France: June 17th, 1970

Directed by: Henry Chapier

Scenario: Henry Chapier
Dialog: Pierre Mac Avoy
Cinematography: Edmond Richard
Music: Vangelis Papathanassiou
Montage: France Duez
Sound: Jacques Gerardot

Produced by Midem Productions and Parafrance
Producer: Bernard Chevry

Cast

Media
Unfortunately "Sex Power" has never been released in any format after its original screening in 1970. It remains one of the biggest mysteries to the many people who are curious to know what this film is that Vangelis composed music for while he was still in Aphrodite's Child. Surely there must be copies stored somewhere in France, in a dark corner of some movie archive? I just hope this film will not be lost forever and will see the light of day again, someday! If you have an idea of how to find this film, please write to me.

Synopsis
As told on the original press-sheet: "Sex-Power (L'homme coeur) is a film about what happens when imagination takes over. It is the story of a boy (Alain Noury) in search of himself and of the real meaning of freedom: a twenty-year-old face to face with Woman, with Love.

His emotional education takes place between two journeys: a solitary trip across America -in the grip of the hippie myth- and a long oneiric odyssey on the part of the hero, who lets his mind dwell at length on the temptation provided by women other than the one who loves him. So Alain is torn by an emotional reality  -his relationship with Jane (Jane Birkin)- and the wanderings of his youthful imagination. The journey that takes him from California to a desert that could be the Sahara -is it rela or imaginary? The women he dreams of -do they exist only in his mind or do they represent real encounters? Sex Power shows that ... and adventure has no real existence: as you come nearer, it drifts further away...

The ideal of symbolic women in the film are presented in the guise of characters of legend: Bernadette Lafont is Salome, Elga Andersen is Lorelei, and Juliette Villard takes up the tradition of the femme fatale.

And where is Alain at the end of his real and imaginary journeys? Sex Power provides no cut-and-dried answer, but leaves the question open; but it makes it clear that one must learn to make the most of promises and happiness, and discover, through being faithful in love, something even more valuable- how to be true to oneself."

Or as told by Dan Pavlides (AMG): "This symbolic film follows the journey of a young man as he awakens to his sexual desires. He is seen naked in the desert and in full attire talking to hippies at Berkeley. He sees a dancing girl and a young British woman with a little girl. Cleopatra appears in the desert, and a German girl recites poetry. All the women depicted are symbolic of love, family and desire that is the focus of his search."