This is the movie that made italian actress Laura Antonelli an international sex star and
features the famous scene where she's standing on a ladder in a short
skirt and no underwear, but frankly she's a lot more memorable in other
films I've seen like "Venus in Furs", "The Divine Nymph", "The Venetian
Lady", and even Lucio Fulci's "The Eroticist". This also doesn't really
quite make it as a comedy (although these dark and perverse continental
variations are almost always preferable to the painfully unfunny
American and British variety). It functions somewhat as a coming-of-age
film I guess, even if the disturbed young protagonist isn't necessarily
a very sympathetic character. You could do worse I suppose.
What it's gonna be? the boy or his daddy?
Just the right amount of lighting.
The action takes place in an upper-class family in Sicily, where the
mother has died and is supplanted by a young housekeeper, Angela (Laura
Antonelli). Although she becomes engaged to the widower rather quickly,
she is no tramp or gold digger. She really enjoys being a housekeeper
and mother to the three boys, although she isn't much older than some
of them, and seems genuinely attached to the cavaliere. Her role is
very complex and subtle -- she is attractive and coy, a girl who has
taken on a very mature role. While the benjamin still misses his real
mama, the teenage sons and the father are enthralled and spellbound by
her.
This boy needs some sexual teachings.
I can see uranus.
What could be a beautifully shot erotic fluffpiece then takes a twist
towards a much darker side. Realising that he won't win her over
romantically, the middle son, Nino, begins to harass, blackmail and
eventually dominate Angela, by exploiting her precarious social
position as someone who is just a servant and at risk of being socially
ostracised. I think that Angela also feels protective of her ward, and
is not least not entirely unreceptive to his advances. And at the time,
blowing the whistle on sexual harassment just wasn't socially
acceptable -- the perpetrator was thus always at an advantage. But
eventually, Angela manages to turn the table and break free from Nino.
Do you like my maid dress?
Let's not beat around the bush.
This is not only the most erotic, it is one of the best movies I have
seen, ever. It's perfect. Don't let the fact that Laura Antonelli is
drop-dead gorgeous or that this is an erotic movie filmed in 1973 fool
you into lumping this masterpiece in with softcore flicks from the same
era.
And now, to your connoisseur pleasure here the film in its entirety since it's public domain material:
Hello fellow readers, today we return with an osbcure 1990 film originaly known as "Las Edades de Lulú" AKA "The Ages of Lulu". Spanish Bigas Luna is the writer and director of this movie which is based on the homonymous novel written by Almudena Grandes, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie. However, this film may not be everybody's cup of tea as it explores darker territories that will not please all of the sexploitation connoisseurs.
It's a full-blooded, Spanish tale of sex and desire and obsession and
from the very opening shots (a baby being covered in talcum powder
while the camera stays stubbornly aimed at the naked crotch - an
unsubtle portent of what is to come) this provides a lot of discomfort
as it explores a journey of exploding sexuality.
Gorgeous Francesca Neri.
Young Lulu gets a date with the older Pablo and is very happy. They
fool around but she's reluctant to do as he asks of her (she doesn't
want to touch herself and is hesitant to perform oral sex) but Pablo is
a persistent guy and charms her and puts her at ease when they get back
to a place of privacy. Lulu is so at ease, in fact, that she allows
Pablo to shave her pubic region and they then move on to sex. The whole
evening becomes a wonderful memory, only ruined later when Lulu finds
out that Pablo will be leaving for America. Sometime later, the two are
reunited and they have a lot of lost time to make up for. They try as
hard as they can. In bed. Together, and with other people present. Life
is sexy and good but boundaries keep being pushed and Lulu starts down
a path that will take her somewhere very dark indeed.
First time shave, first time shag.
While this could be, and I'm sure it is, easily dismissed by many as
nothing more than shocking pornography masquerading as art, I must say
that I really felt myself drawn in to this world of passion mixing with
love and getting confused amongst the push for more and more thrills.
Pablo, in an early scene, tells Lulu never to confuse love and sex and
that's another unsubtle pointer to where the movie is headed. Because
it looks at just that kind of confusion - people who look to sexual
thrills as some replacement for something they feel is missing from
their lives.
Married sex, AKA legal sex.
The direction is okay, though the structure of the film is little more
than a step from one moment of kinkiness to the next, but the story and
the acting really helps to make this a watchable movie for more than
just the obvious aesthetic pleasure. Francesca Neri moves fantastically
from naive young girl to debased sex addict in the role of Lulu, Oscar
Ladoire is just fine as the guiding and dominating Pablo, Maria
Barranco does well as Ely, Fernando Guillen Cuervo is okay and there's
an early, but prominent, role for Javier Bardem (his first credited
film role, from what I can see).
Most awful surprise.
Certainly not one to stick on during family gatherings (even the
dialogue is unsavoury at times with Pablo saying on a couple of
occasions that he wished he had a daughter like Lulu - there's just no
way to hear the character say that without feeling slightly grimy), but
The Ages Of Lulu is an impressive erotic drama with one or two nasty
moments that should please fans of Jess Franco or even someone like
Gaspar Noe.
Anyways, here is the movie trailer:
And if you want more, here the full fime, courtesy of You Tube:
