Exploits of a Young Don Juan

Set in 1914, a teenager returns home from boarding school for a summer break and steps into a bustling house where affection and attention swirl around a group of grown women. His arrival unsettles the quiet rhythm of a rigid social world, igniting a curiosity that feels new and dangerous. What follows is less a tidy romance than a provocative meditation on growing up under the gaze of desire, jealousy, and secrecy. The film blends humor with drama as plans and misunderstandings ripple through the family, testing loyalties and the boundaries of love without revealing every outcome. The tone blends bite and irony as the camera lingers on social rituals, slyly critiquing class expectations and the narrow scripts men and women are supposed to follow during wartime Europe. Audience dialogue and ensemble performances pull the focus toward empathy for characters navigating desire, guilt, and family obligations, even as dazzling set pieces anchor the era with period detail.

Released in 1986 and directed by Gianfranco Mingozzi, the film is a collaboration credited to Jean-Claude Carrière, Guillaume Apollinaire and Peter Fleischmann, signaling a fusion of literary and cinematic sensibilities behind its provocative premise.

Box office data for the film are not widely available, suggesting a limited release that mostly circulated through European art houses rather than broad commercial theaters.

No major nominations or wins are widely documented for Exploits of a Young Don Juan. The film has drawn attention for its audacious themes and the performances of Serena Grandi, Claudine Auger, Marina Vlady and Fabrice Josso rather than awards.

Reception is mixed with audiences and critics debating the balance between humor and provocative material set in a period backdrop. It examines coming of age, power dynamics, and the costs of desire within a strict era. The film carries a 6.047 out of 10 from 297 votes.