A curious film, consisting of four erotic set-pieces. In the first, which takes place at the present time (in the 1970s, that is), a slightly annoying young man (Fabrice Luchini) tells us his young cousin will do whatever he tells her to do. They go down to the seaside, where he tells her to take off her swimsuit under her transparent dress, and to perform oral sex on him until he floods with the high tide. She does so, and thus she supposedly learns about the connection between sex and natural phenomena like the tides. Surely this is either a pretentious bit of fake sex philosophy or a con by the young man, or both/ The girl (Lise Danvers) is very pretty, with freckles, dark blue eyes, and a beautiful mouth, which Borowczyck shows in close up. These close-ups of her face and mouth are the most erotic part of the entire movie. The second tale is perhaps Victorian, involving another pretty girl (Charlotte Alexandre) who lingers after mass in the church, fondling phallic symbols like candlesticks and organ pipes and so on, while a divine voice speaks to her. In trouble for being late and locked into her bedroom at home, she fools around with various old items, a doll, a book of 18th-century pornography, a cucumber, and she undresses and brings herself to orgasm. Later she climbs out her window and wanders off across a field to the edge of a forest where a tramp accosts her. In the third, a Hungarian countess (Paloma Picasso) rounds up women from villages and brings them to serve her, aided by her page Istvan. The young women all take long showers and spend a lot of time naked, then they're given a special drink and permission to touch the countess's pearl dress and then tear it off, and then they tear each other apart, apparently, for the vampire-like countess bathes in blood and then goes to bed with the page, who is actually a beautiful woman (Pascale Christophe). In the morning soldiers arrest the countess and the page kisses the officer. The fourth tale shows a threesome consisting of the pope Alexander Borgia and his daughter Lucrezia (Florence Bellamy) and son Cesare. It's predictable, and not much helped by intercutting scenes of Savanarola scolding the church and then dying in flames at the stake. Much of the movie is filmed prettily, with excellent scenery and costumes and very attractive women often wearing very few clothes, a good deal of sexual activity and nudity. It's interesting to note the women's 1970s hair-styles and tan-lines in the historical parts, and curious also to note the element of excess and cruelty rather arbitrarily conjoined with sexuality. Direct but dated.
Review of Immoral Tales
