The Lickerish Quartet (1970)
Country: IT/US/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor 90m
Director: Radley Metzger
Cast: Silvana Venturelli, Frank Wolff, Erika Remberg, Paolo Turco
Synopsis:
A bored wealthy couple and their restless son come down from watching a stag movie in their chateau, and attend a carnival where they meet a young stunt rider who is a dead ringer for the girl in the movie. They take her back to the castle and erotic game play ensues.
Review:
The zenith in arty sixties erotica, this archly titled, tricksily edited but ravishingly shot picture clearly references Pasolini's Theorem in an offhand kind of way and features all the (simulated) sexual couplings that film lacked. Unfortunately, the arthouse trappings (Pirandello opening quotation, a protean 'stag film-à-clef', fantasy versus reality, chic décor, twist ending) are laid on so thickly as to add up to nothing at all, viz. the parental fellatio witnessed by the son as a child would seem to lead to Oedipal murder, but then what of the interplay with the character from the movie within the movie? Robbe-Grillet was doing some of the same things at the same time, but at least he kept to one species of schtick. Nevertheless, this is a stylish endeavour with gorgeous Abruzzi locations and some beautifully lit flesh tones.
Country: IT/US/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor 90m
Director: Radley Metzger
Cast: Silvana Venturelli, Frank Wolff, Erika Remberg, Paolo Turco
Synopsis:
A bored wealthy couple and their restless son come down from watching a stag movie in their chateau, and attend a carnival where they meet a young stunt rider who is a dead ringer for the girl in the movie. They take her back to the castle and erotic game play ensues.
Review:
The zenith in arty sixties erotica, this archly titled, tricksily edited but ravishingly shot picture clearly references Pasolini's Theorem in an offhand kind of way and features all the (simulated) sexual couplings that film lacked. Unfortunately, the arthouse trappings (Pirandello opening quotation, a protean 'stag film-à-clef', fantasy versus reality, chic décor, twist ending) are laid on so thickly as to add up to nothing at all, viz. the parental fellatio witnessed by the son as a child would seem to lead to Oedipal murder, but then what of the interplay with the character from the movie within the movie? Robbe-Grillet was doing some of the same things at the same time, but at least he kept to one species of schtick. Nevertheless, this is a stylish endeavour with gorgeous Abruzzi locations and some beautifully lit flesh tones.
Country: IT/US/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor 90m
Director: Radley Metzger
Cast: Silvana Venturelli, Frank Wolff, Erika Remberg, Paolo Turco
Synopsis:
A bored wealthy couple and their restless son come down from watching a stag movie in their chateau, and attend a carnival where they meet a young stunt rider who is a dead ringer for the girl in the movie. They take her back to the castle and erotic game play ensues.
Review:
The zenith in arty sixties erotica, this archly titled, tricksily edited but ravishingly shot picture clearly references Pasolini's Theorem in an offhand kind of way and features all the (simulated) sexual couplings that film lacked. Unfortunately, the arthouse trappings (Pirandello opening quotation, a protean 'stag film-à-clef', fantasy versus reality, chic décor, twist ending) are laid on so thickly as to add up to nothing at all, viz. the parental fellatio witnessed by the son as a child would seem to lead to Oedipal murder, but then what of the interplay with the character from the movie within the movie? Robbe-Grillet was doing some of the same things at the same time, but at least he kept to one species of schtick. Nevertheless, this is a stylish endeavour with gorgeous Abruzzi locations and some beautifully lit flesh tones.