Valeria Marini in Bigas Luna's "Bambola" [1996 Italy, Spain, France]

Bigas Luna is one of those fine, 'earthy' directors who doesn't shy away from exploring the darker areas of the mind - and repressed sexuality is a recurring theme in many of his films. I have had the opportunity to watch most of his films - and have steadily added his classics to my DVD collection since - as any ardent fan of independent unadulterated cinema would, I guess.

I'll start off by reviewing some scenes from one of my favourites - his 1996 film, "Bambola". I chose this film partly because of the sultry vixen Valeria Marini - she had made this film into her own - and some of her nude scenes in the film are all time classics..!

The story is set in a remote fishing village in Italy, where Mina aka 'Bambola' runs a restaurant with her gay brother Flavio. 'Bambola' - Valeria Marini - and her brother notice a handsome man during an aqua park outing and both of them flirt to gain his attention. The guy falls for Valeria though, but soon enough ends up in prison for 'accidentally' killing her fiancee. Furio - a fellow prisoner, is the top dog there, and when he sees Valeria for the first time, decides she should only be his. When her lover in prison refuses to let go of Valeria to Furio, he arranges for some guys to rape him. He then blackmails Valeria into having a 'conjugal visit' with him, otherwise threatening more physical harm for her poor lover.

The film makes some interesting points - it takes a rape for the lover-guy to realise he's gay, and 'Bambola', while always wanting tenderness and romance in her relationship, couldn't resist the beastly behaviour of Furio - the more he humiliates her, the more she wants him - it's as if her harmones switch into overdrive everytime Furio does something despicable. The whole film reeks of testosterone and oestrogen - Bigas Luna is certainly no Julio Medem, that much is for sure..!

It was possible for me to enhance these clips from my DVD to 720pp - may be I got carried away after discovering for the first time that Valeria Marini does have a mole on her left breast - I certainly don't remember noticing it when I watched the film earlier - it was a Spanish version DVDRip - but I think the end result is satisfactory.



Scene 1:
Valeria is coerced into visiting Furio, played by the Cuban born actor Jorge Perugorría - he even delivers all his dialogues in Spanish which is dubbed over. The scene is darkly lit, but it is an erotically charged one nevertheless.

Scene 2:
Furio is relased early from prison for 'good behaviour' and where do you think he comes straight after - with liberal groping and full-on kissing, this scene is titillating as hell..!

Scene 3:
Furio decides to stay with 'Bambola' much to her brother's annoyance...

Scene 4:
An eel, albeit dead, gets intimately acquainted with Valeria Marini.

Scene 5:
This is surely one of the most awesome nude scenes in mainstream cinema - Valeria Marini is knickerless as she's pursued by Furio through the fields. Long tracking shots and intermittent pantyless upskirts - all shot in broad daylight - now that's some nude scene..!

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