Don't Believe the Hype

Better Late Then Never

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This movie might cross a line for some when it comes to sexual intrusion or maybe even "force". There are scenes in this that are borderline to say the least. There's nothing explicit in it, but men forcing themselves onto a woman. Though the woman has a "hunger" and a need for sexuality in general, it would seem that it crosses this aforementioned line.Having said that, there's a lot of nudity and the story is somewhat intriguing to watch. A character who's losing control over herself. A marriage that is beyond saving .. or is it? The main actress does a good job and if I understood correctly she got famous playing roles like this (involving nudity and sexual situations). You can still see why she was attracting men and making them lose their mind over her ... which is crucial to this movie in particular of course ...

Whilst recently reading up on IMDb's Classic Film board lists of titles that people had chosen for their "best of 1986" movie list,I was intrigued to spot an IMDb member put a near-forgotten 1986 Italian Erotic Thriller on their list of "need to see titles from the year".Feeling the there was hardly any chance that the film had been brought out on either Video or DVD.I decided to do a quick search on Amazon Uk to prove that my instincts were correct,so that I could then put the film down as one which I would have search round for.To my complete surprise,all of the preconceptions I had made were left destroyed when I discovered that the film had been brought out on a Region 2 DVD completely uncut!.Feeling very happy that my original expectations had been proved wrong,I decided that it was the perfect time to take outside and see the lady of the night…The plot:As her third wedding anniversary draws slowly closer,Simona begins to fear that the spark she originally shared with her husband Marco is all but burnt out.Convincing Marco to take her for a drive,Simona orders him to stop the car so that they can have some "wild fun".Despite Simona's intentions,her plan seems to spectacularly back fire,with Marco becoming more reserved than he has ever been before.Frustrated at how dull her bedroom life has become,Simona gets the thrill of her life,when an unknown man gets hold of her and gives Simona the feeling of danger and excitement which she has been after her whole life.With having had such an amazing time with this unknown man,Simona begins to develop a deep craving to leave the safety net of Marco behind,and to instead experience the wild and exciting night life of the unknown.View on the film:Despite the opening scene having an enticing,low-lit Film Noir appearance,director /co-writer Piero Schivazappa decides to instead turn the film into a light Erotic Drama featuring some smooth thrilling moments.Whilst Schivazappa goes for some rather "different" 360 digress shots, (including one,which goes from a bed to a life size photo of Charlie Chaplin!) he mostly has the film focus on every single bit of Serena Grandi's exposed skin,with the movie not being able to go five minutes,before going back to obsessively focus on its stunning leading lady.Although Serena Grandi's terrificly charismatic performance is smartly made the centre of attention,Fabio Sartor (who later had a role in Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ!) gives a good, well balanced performance as Simona's husband Marco,who Sartor impressively keeps on the right side of Ernest without ever becoming a party popper.For the first 50 minutes of the movie screenwriters Schivazaapa and Galliano"The Heroin Busters" Juso mix terrific tongue in cheek dialogue, (with a particular high light being all the men ordering Simona to"keep your eyes open!"during the time that they have their bedroom fun with her)with a huge amount of fantastic voyeuristic thrilling moments which keep your eyes permanently locked on the screen.As the movie reaches its final 30 minutes, Schivazappa and Galliano weirdly decided to give Simona some moral fibre (boo!) as she starts to think about what she really wants for the future.Whilst this drama approach does allow Simona to be given some extra depth,it sadly feels like an unnatural change of rhythm,as the films terrific voyeuristic side is left to slowly fade into the night.

This is fine and you pretty much get what you expect. It is neither as lusciously or obsessively 'Tintoesque' as the DVD description has it but neither as hard edged as some have reported. So, somewhere in the middle as usual, this is well enough filmed but wants to be taken seriously and asks a lot of the lovely Serena Grandi, who is expected to make meaningful gestures one minute and masturbate half naked the next. Actually, the rear view of her with her jeans partially pulled down her bottom makes this one of the better scenes. There is also a very well executed and for me at least fiercely erotic scene in a washroom with a stranger and a rifle, but these scenes aside the film is never wholly cohesive. Enough going on though, I'd say for the film to be recognised as Italian, what with all the Catholic guilt, boys and their mums and the whole angel/whore business. Some pretty strange looking guys too, some of whom look like they've just put down their sword or got out of their chariot.