Black Venus 1983

During a visit to a Parisian brothel run by Madame Lili, the wealthy art collector Jacques, Emiliano Redondo, recognizes Venus, Josephine Jacqueline Jones, a black Martinican woman, among the workers.

In a memory that unfolds as a flashback, Jacques recalls introducing Venus to Armand, Jos Antonio Ceinos, a gifted but impoverished sculptor who persuades Venus to become his art model and lover. Armand grows increasingly obsessed with Venus and the statue he is carving. To help Armand pay the rent, Venus takes work as a model for a dressmaker, Madame Jean, Helga Liné. Several of Madame Jean’s customers become enamored with Venus, among them Marie, Karin Schubert, a wealthy woman whose husband is often absent. Venus earns so much as a model that Armand accuses her of being a prostitute.

Eventually Armand’s obsession, jealousy, and growing violence drive Venus away, and she moves in with Marie as a kept woman. When Marie’s husband Pierre returns home during a society ball, he discovers Venus in his house and orders her to have sex with Louise, Florence Guérin, a 17-year-old rural girl he had seduced with wealth. Pierre then invites several party guests to rape Louise, leading Venus to flee the house and return to work for Madame Lili. Venus later crosses paths with Louise, who has become a prostitute at Madame Lili’s brothel.

In the present, Jacques tells Venus that Armand finished his statue of her, but refuses to sell it despite being destitute and quite ill. After Venus begs him to help Armand, Jacques goes to Armand’s studio, forces money on Armand and takes the statue of Venus over Armand’s protests. Jacques then buys Venus and Louise’s contracts from Madame Lili and takes both women to his house in Spain, where he installs the statue. Armand, having suffered a severe breakdown, follows them to Spain to take back both Venus and the statue at gunpoint. When Venus refuses, Armand shoots her and then kills himself. Armand’s last words are to ask Jacques to take care of “her,” leaving it unclear whether he meant the injured Venus or the statue.