Martyr (2008, Pachamama Films), is feature film which features crucifixions similar to their work in their earlier Red Feline movies. It was written, directed, and starring Jac Avila. Readers should know that this film was the reason that Amy Hesketh decided to join Jac Avila to make more great GIMP films that we all now love.

We are introduced to the lovely young French couple of Camille (Carmen Paintoux) and Julien (Mickael Trodoux). Camille then tells the story of Eulalia, a beautiful female virgin martyr. We also meet Julien’s American friend Dave (Erik Antoine) who loves messing around with a bullet-less gun. Camille and Julien are living with Dave until they go back to France.

At the nightclub where Julien works as a DJ, Camille meets a fellow French woman named Elisa (Natacha Petrovic). We learn that Elisa is gay and works in photography with Tadeusz (Jac Avila). We also meet Tadeusz’s live in model and girlfriend Gabrielle (Veronica Paintoux).

Camille, an actress back in France, tells Julien that she is bored and wants to find work. She then gets a job modeling with Tadeusz. Camille convinces Tadeusz to do a photoshoot with her as the virgin martyr Eulalia. He agrees and they begin working on training Camille for all the tough scenes where she will suffer.

In their first photoshoot, Camille is topless and blindfolded while sitting on her knees. She then arches her back in the same position. She then gets her hands bound together in front of her. This photoshoot is just a warm up for her before the real tough shoots begin. Not much torture for Camille in this shoot.

When Camille and Tadeusz discuss what scenes to shoot with her as the Martyr, he hints that it should end with a naked crucifixion. Tadeusz expects her to say no, but we see a great moment where Camille lifts her arms in the air like she is on a cross and says boldly, “Crucify me!”

Julien and Camille discuss the shoot together and he is reluctant to let her go through with it. Camille tells him she wants to do it for herself and feels she needs to do this for her own personal empowerment. He reluctantly agrees. She however keeps the more gruesome details a secret.

The first scene of their Martyr shoot is all about torturing Camille/ Eulalia. They start by beating her with a stick while she is on her hands and knees. She eventually falls and lays on her stomach while she is still beaten.

To end the shoot, Camille is then hung on a piece of wood with her arms tied and spread. She then gets impaled 4 times on her chest.

For the next shoot, Camille stays the whole weekend at Tadeusz’s place. Julien slowly starts to show his jealousy towards Camille. Gabrielle also is getting jealous of all the attention Tadeusz is showing Camille. He tells her not to worry.

Too start the weekend photoshoot, Camille is hung on a metal chain by her shoulders with her arms tied loosely behind her. This is a very painful position and you can tell by her acting that she struggles a lot in the scene. Camille endures the shoulder hanging for a long time before she requests to be taken down. I give her a lot of credit for how long she stayed up in that painful position.

For the next scene, Camille is tied down on an x-cross .After a little while, she starts to also get whipped with a stick on the chest on the very same cross. She really acts well with her suffering on the x-cross. Tadeusz even tries to cop a feel at the end, but Camille rejects him.

After that shoot, Camille is trying to get some much needed love from Julien, but his concern for her job is worrying him. Camille argues that it is now more than a job and is really an experience that she need to finish to the end. Eventually they make up and have sex. Julien however notices that Camille is having her period and is angry that she had sex with him knowing that she doesn’t like having sex with her during her period. Tension really builds between the two. We also see Gabrielle’s jealousy growing as well when Tadeusz pays less attention to her. From the previous shoot, we discover that Tadeusz encourages Camille to use her period to make the scene feel more real. Camille is shocked that he finds the period of a woman natural and beautiful which she appreciates. Camille then encourages him to use the blood from her period during the shoot. She then allows him to kiss him briefly. Then she tells him that she will go no farther with him. Gabrielle sees this and gets really jealous.

At the next shoot, Camille is not in a good mood with her period and the big argument she had with Julien. She wishes for the shoot to be over as soon as possible. She is then hung upside down and tied to the x-cross. She starts to feel reluctant to work being in this position while in her bad mood, but decides to still carry on. She stills asks for the shoot to move along faster. She then has red hot candle wax poured down her chest. She gets angry and leaves the shoot pissed off. Things have went too far while in her bad mood. She tells everyone that she no longer wants to continue the photoshoots.

Tadeusz is pissed to have lost a great model in Camille. Gabrielle tries to cheer him up. She tries to convince him that crucifixions are not art. But he argues back by saying that she can’t do the same if she tried. She tells him that she can do it. He agrees and goes along with it. The shoot doesn’t go well as Gabrielle doesn’t have the innocence that Camille has. It doesn’t work out. He even tries to get Elisa forcefully to try it as well, but that ended really quickly. Eventually, he takes apart the cross and refocuses his efforts back on Gabrielle.

Camille and Julien also have a big argument after seeing her laptop with the full story of Eulalia. Julien can’t take it anymore and wants her to quit. Camille can’t understand why Julien doesn’t seem to understand that this is personal for her and her art like his music is an art for him. Later on, she tries to make it up to him with sex, but Julien is cold towards her. Julien’s jealousy has reached a boiling point. She leaves Dave’s apartment and decides to go visit Elisa for the time being.

She tells Elisa that he wants to go back and finish the shoot, but doesn’t want to give Tadeusz the wrong idea. She likes to work with him, but she does not love him. Elisa tells Camille how much he misses her and that he would rather see this shoot get done and ignore his own desires for Camille. Camille tells Elisa that it will take some time before she sees Tadeusz again. Elisa tries to convince Camille that Julien is the problem here. Camille tells her that she still loves Julien. Then she tells Elisa that Julien isn’t a problem anymore since she decided to break up the relationship. Elisa offers her home to Camille for the time being and she accepts her generous offer.

While staying with Elisa, Camille starts feeling a strong bond with her. Camille finally decides to finally finish the shoot with Tedeusz, but only if Elisa joins her in the shoot as well by playing the role of Julia, Eulalia’s friend (lover?). Elisa agrees. Camille shows Elisa the tools she needs to finish the shoot.

Camille shows up at Tadeusz’s place to convince him to let her finish the shoot. He knows that she is really passionate with the shoot, but wants her full dedication to the rest of the shoot with no interruptions. Camille assures him that she is fully willing to do this and that the boyfriend is no longer a worry. Camille agrees as long as Elisa is doing the shoot with her. Since Elisa is not working the cameras, Gabrielle would need to be behind the camera for the shoot. Everyone agrees to finish the shoot. Even Gabrielle who hesitates a little with Camille’s return. Camille hands the unknown tools to Tadeusz and starts to prepare the shoot. The tools are revealed to be large nails needed to crucify Camille to the cross. Camille also tells Tadeusz that after this shoot is over, she will never appear before him ever again and will be gone from his life.

The final shoot starts with Camille tied AOH facing a long wooden post while being whipped hard. Elisa watches as her cohort gets tortured. This is a very emotional scene for everybody.

After Camille’s whipping, they lay her unconscious body face up on the floor. Then it is Elisa’s turn to be whipped. Gabrielle is the one to whip Elisa. Elisa is however not bound and very good editing gives the illusion that she is being whipped. Since Elisa is not one of Jac’s regular Red Feline girl, this was the only way to show this whipping scene. Gabrielle is emotional while whipping the poor girl. Every female in the room is very emotional towards the two whipping scenes and it shows in their acting. After her whipping, Elisa limps towards Camille’s unconscious body.

We then see Dave and Julien discussing the fact that Camille may have gone too far with her fantasy to enact the death of Eulalia as a Martyr. Dave tries to get Julien riled up by telling him to blow his brains out. Julien thinks Dave is crazy, but eventually gets riled up enough to blow the trigger. The gun however wasn’t loaded. Dave was never in danger, but he got Julien to express his true feelings towards the situation. While Dave goes to pick up some beer, Julien runs off with the gun. When Dave returns, he is troubled and goes out looking for Julien.

The scene moves back to the shoot. Camille is awoken when her hands are nailed to the arms of the cross. Her screams also wake up Elisa. Elisa and Camille really feel for each other in this scene. Camille is then hung and crucified on the T-cross.

While Elisa is not really eager to be hung on a cross, she tries to show a brave face all along. But we soon learn that Camille and Tadeusz were not really intending to put Elisa on the cross. They were both able to convince Gabrielle to take her place. This twist really shocked me since Gabrielle did not like Camille stealing away the spotlight from her. But Gabrielle was finally moved by Gabrielle’s passion for what this shoot really stood for. Gabrielle is ready to take her place on the cross.

While Gabrielle is getting ready, they begin to nail Camille’s legs to the cross. Then she look over to her side is glad to see that Gabriele is right beside her to share the pain of her tortures.

Gabrielle is then tied with rope to the arm of her cross. She is then whipped across the chest. Camille then spits out blood from all the tortures she has suffered while Gabrielle watches her from the side. They are now true sisters in pain. Gabrielle is then impaled in the chest with a spear. She loudly screams in pain. They both fall into unconsciousness to the pain they suffered.

We then see Julien show up at the photoshoot. I will stop here and not spoil the ending. I do however feel that the ending is left to be interpreted as I have many unanswered questions.

Summary: Camille is bored of doing nothing while staying with her boyfriend in order to help out his career. She than meets Tadeusz, a photographer who really lets her act out the great story of the martyr St. Eulalia. We see Camille suffer for her art and her passion, but she also feels empowered from doing the shoot. This is also a story of jealousy as we see many of the films relationships being tested.

Even though this is mainly a female oriented story, I believe males can enjoy it as well. I certainly enjoyed it from a guy’s point of view. I would give the story a B.

If you have seen previous Red Feline movies, you know that Jac is really good when it comes to shooting great crucifixion scenes. Since this was a bigger budget film, he was able to make these scenes even better. There are also some great whipping scenes with Camille. Camille is a really sexy girl and knows how to convey her suffering on screen.