Saturday 10 March 2012

All Ladies Do It (1992)

AKA Cosi Fan Tutte.

Tinto Brass is famous for his particular brand of softcore erotica that isn't always that soft but certainly keeps things erotic. Think of him as a Jess Franco figure without the over the top sleaziness and torture elements. He does what he does well and fans of his work shouldn't find much to complain about in All Ladies Do It.

I am not a fan. I'm not a detractor either, I've just not seen enough movies from Brass to form a solid opinion. In fact, I think that the only other Tinto Brass movie I have seen in my life is Caligula - a movie that a) I have no major memory of and b) tends to be regarded as far from the best of the director's movies.

All Ladies Do It revolves around Diana (Claudia Koll), a faithful wife who often turns her husband, Paolo (Paolo Lanza), on by telling him tales of flirtations and temptations. It's all fun and games while the tales are fiction but when Diana starts to allow herself some "happy banging" then things get a bit more complicated and Paolo doesn't think he can handle the situation. Is Diana wrong to get some sexual kicks elsewhere while remaining completely in love with her husband?

There are many moments in this movie that are very erotic. Let's be honest, there are a number of moments that probably count as full on pornographic. It's not a film to sit down and watch with the grandparents and it may even prove to be quite a shocking viewing for those who think that they're open-minded enough because they sat through the tastefully sexual Eyes Wide Shut. Hardly 5 minutes can pass by without viewers having an erect penis waved in their general direction or seeing a woman show off her naked ladyparts. A lot of the nudity and sexual content feels erotic. Where that feeling dissipates is in the moments showing Diana active in other ways. Take kissing for example. Kissing can be erotic and very sexy. But kissing while "happy banging" results in two people who look like they are trying to spit pink salmon at each other. Which is pretty gross. And then we have the general attitude of Diana throughout most of the first half of the movie, a sexual confidence that teeters over the edge and well into the realm of arrogance, thus becoming decidedly unsexy (in my view, anyway). A woman unintentionally showing a hint of a slip and coyly hiding it away again is 100 times sexier than a woman getting her jollies by "accidentally" grinding against men on busy public transport.

The screenplay is better than it has any right to be, thanks again to Brass, though he is helped in the writing department by a few others. The performances are okay (the cast are pretty daring, which makes up for any failings in the actual acting) and I'd pick out Ornella Marcucci as someone I particularly enjoyed watching.
And fans of movie music should enjoy the work by Pino Donnagio here. But fans of female nudity will probably get the most out of the film.

6/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Ladies-Do-It-DVD/dp/B00005AMF3/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1331412620&sr=1-1





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