This film by French female director Yannick Bellon explores the mental and emotional aftermath of the sexual assault of the film's main character, Nicole, played by Nathalie Nell. Nicole, following her assault, for most of the story struggles through the psychological anguish of whether she should even report the attack to the authorities, much less tell her family and friends what happened to her, given the pervasive sexism in French society at the time (contemporary late 1970s), where victims of such crimes were often seen as "leading on" their attackers, and where, because of the potential societal shame that would be brought to both the victim and her family, it was often thought better for the victim to not discuss such things, to try to emotionally bury what happened and to keep quiet and move on.

Every stage of such a crime is shown in this film:

The happy life of the victim before the assault, the assault itself (very explicitly depicted), the battered and emotionally-wrecked survivor, the clinical medical examination which follows (Nicole goes to a doctor she knows, and has him vow to keep quiet after the exam, since she fears telling the police of her ordeal), and the strained relationship with her fiance afterward, who is, initially at least, more concerned with his own pride than with Nicole's own inner anguish. Near the end of the film, after encouragement from her devoted friend Catherine (played brilliantly by Michele Simonnet), Nicole finally does report the assault to the police, and her fiance finally gets over his stubborness and reconciles with her.

This movie has been described as an exploitation film; Yannick Bellon clearly did not have this in mind, but it must be mentioned that the first act of this film shares uncanny similarities with the original I Spit On Your Grave:

Both films were released in 1978; filming on ISOYG began in 1976, Rape of Love, in 1977; the primary actress in each were both in their late 20s, and even bear a passing resemblance to each other; each of their characters was attacked by four men. The rape scenes in Rape of Love, while not as extended as in ISOYG (which came close to 30 minutes of nonstop brutality), still clock in at a grueling ten minutes. The scenes are explicit: Bellon has her poor protagonist completely stripped, as in ISOYG, and also as in ISOYG, everything that can be done to her by the attackers, is.

It is extremely unlikely that Yannick Bellon in France and Meir Zarchi in the United States had any idea what the other was doing during the making of their respective films, but as I said before, the similarities between the first acts of both films are eerie.

But following the first act, the films depart from each other: While I Spit On Your Grave is a straight-up "rape-revenge" horror film for all involved, Rape of Love is more of a psychological study of the aftermath of assault and a commentary on contemporary sexism; while Jennifer Hills ultimately bloodily dispatches her assailants herself, Nicole, though she wants to take justice into her own hands, ultimately goes to the police and has the perpetrators arrested.

Rape of Love-- it's French title is L'Amour Viole --is an interesting character study/social commentary for those who can tolerate the discomfort of the subject.