Nostalgia Kinky

Recently I fell in love with the delightful 1974 album Romance is on the Rise by the late South African singer, model, and actress Geneviève Waïte. Produced by her then husband John Phillips, Romance is on the Rise is a real treasure, and it’s such a bummer that it was the only album that Waïte released in her lifetime. So struck by the album, I wanted to track down Waïte’s only major film role as the title character in Michael Sarne’s Joanna (1968). Sadly, I did just that.

So, I really didn’t care for Joanna (1968). In fact, I found it incredibly grating…brutally annoying. Ironically, considering that Geneviève Waïte led me to this film, she is without question its biggest problem. I actually hate to criticize Waïte’s performance, especially considering she was a complete novice suffering mental and physical abuse from her director, but she is, simply put, completely out of her depth in Joanna. Honestly, though, it’s hard to imagine even the finest actress of the period transforming Joanna into anything resembling a good picture.

Joanna is the first feature-length work from Michael Sarne, the unbearably pretentious director who bragged that hitting Waïte was the only way to direct her. Sarne, the future director of cinematic train wrecks like Myra Breckinridge has clearly seen a lot of films, but his appreciation of the form doesn’t translate into good direction. Thanks to the cinematography of Walter Lassally, Joanna is indeed a very colorful film, but Sarne’s direction is completely flat and lifeless. He should have punched himself in the face.

Joanna is a real chore to get through. Surprisingly, critical reaction at the time wasn’t all bad, although it seemed to disappear into the ether fairly quickly. Coming across as a much less imaginative version of Candy, Joanna is also alarmingly conservative and disturbingly racist at times. The fact that the film presents itself as progressive makes it feel all the more condescending.

Joanna is not a complete waste. The Rod McKuen score, and Scott Walker sung theme, are lovely and very well done. One great performance is also given, courtesy of Glenna Forster-Jones as Joanna’s much more interesting and captivating friend. Forster-Jones should have played the title role. A sole decent performance, nice score and pretty photography aside, I can’t think of anything I’d recommend about Joanna, unless anyone is curious to see the absolute worst performance the great Donald Sutherland ever gave.

Joanna did have an intriguing production and release history, so I gathered together a number of vintage articles and reviews, posted below. Joanna is available on a special edition Blu-ray from BFI Flipside for any interested.

-Jeremy Richey, April 2024-