Bárbara Goenaga in "Agnosia" [2010 Spain]

Eugenio Mira's sumptuous melodramatic thriller-romance "Agnosia" is one of the most visually stunning films I've seen this year.

Set in turn-of-twentieth century Barcelona, the story revolves around Joana, the daughter of an industrialist, with an unusual handicap that makes it difficult for her to distinguish shapes and sounds (Agnosia). Woven into the story is industrial espionage, and the lengths to which criminals go to exploit Joana's illness for extracting her father's secret formula. They kidnap her without her even noticing it, and force a recently dismissed male servant of Joana's household, Vicent, to take the place of Joana's fiancé Carles.

The screenplay is excellent, as is the direction. Not to mention the awesome cinematography and art direction - it was like watching a Visconti film. And all the actors give a sterling performance, in particular the beautiful Bárbara Goenaga who plays Joana. I wouldn't be surprised if it collects a few awards along the way. I've cut this compilation from an excellent quality DVD. This film can grace anyone's library. Needless to say, Highly Recommended Viewing..!



Scene guide:

• Joana has an accident while bathing.
• A panic-stricken Joana is consoled by Vicent (pretending to be Carles), and they end up making love - this is a beautiful and romantic scene.
• A couple of scenes of Carles - first with a prostitute in an opium den (actress uncredited), and later with Joana.

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Elizabeth Cervantes in "Oscura Seducción" [2011 Mexico]

Walter Doehner's 2011 drama, "Oscura Seducción" [Eng. Title: Dark Seduction] is about a woman embarking on a passionate fling with her much younger colleague, only to find she's received much more than she bargained for. The film as a whole is just about average, let down by poor screenplay and performances from some of the main characters. But there are also some creditworthy aspects within the film, like the editing, cinematography and lighting. Doehner is generally a good director, and this isn't a bad film either, but it is not up to the standard of his earlier film "La Habitación Azul".

Storyline:
Laura is a cosmetic surgeon in whose successful practice young Gustavo had recently joined as an attendant. He wins her sympathy when he tells her about his need for this job to fund his medical studies. But Gustavo clearly wants more than that, and works on seducing his boss, and also succeeds rather easily - helped by the fact that Laura is single and sometimes lonely. He finds an excuse to move into her home, and promptly tries to take over her life. Laura gets fed up and asks him to leave. But she will realise that he's not one who's going to accept rejection that easily.

The scenes below were cut from DVD, and the quality is pretty good.




Scene 1:
This is an interesting scene where Laura inspects one of her patients, played by Mara Cuevas. Despite the surgeon's considered opinion, she seems bent on realigning her breasts and getting her ass tucked. Sometimes you wonder if women like these may be better off visiting a psychiatrist instead.








Compilation 1:
Made from two scenes - first is of Laura touching herself in bed. the second is after she invites Gustavo to come and help himself to some of her medical books. He helps himself alright! Laura is played by mamacita caliente Elizabeth Cervantes. The funny thing is, Cervantes plays the cosmetic surgeon, but she's the one who appears to have had her boobs done - correct me if I'm wrong.








Compilation 2:
Made from three scenes. The first one is the longest, but for me, absolutely the 'highlight' of the entire film, when Laura has a post-coital conversation with Gustavo. For close to three minutes, Elizabeth Cervantes gives us an endearing view of her awesome ass (and some brief peeks of her labia too if you adjust the contrast). The scene had three camera positions, of which the above mentioned was the one most used in the edit. The second scene is when Laura gets annoyed with Gustavo's bitching for the first time - she avoids him in the shower, only to be taken by force. The third has no nudity, where Gustavo tries to rape Laura after she asks him to pack up and leave.








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Monique van de Ven in "Turks Fruit" [1973 Netherlands]

Paul Verhoeven's 1973 wild romance "Turks Fruit" [Eng. Title: Turkish Delight] is considered by many in his country as the best Dutch film ever. And since I'm not Dutch, who am I to argue. I do however agree that it is a beautiful film, full of energy and vigour, and surprisingly, filled with tenderness. Surprising because the protagonist is an impetuous young sculptor who's initially portrayed as someone reckless and insincere. But as the film unfolds his past, we empathise and perhaps even excuse his excesses.

The film is a semi-autobiographical account of a sculptor-writer, upon whose novel by the same name this film is based. It tells the story of a passionate sculptor, Eric, his past life, and his present. The film is actually quite moving towards the end, but irreverent, sexy and funny all the way through. It is very well directed, shot, and edited, and the performances by all the main actors are top-notch The film was also nominated for an Oscar under Best Foreign Language Film category, and could have won if not for François Truffaut's "La Nuit Américaine".

As for the nude scenes in the film, they are considered among the all-time classics. Monique van de Ven, who plays Eric's wife Olga, is a sight to behold - films like these just don't get made nowadays. I've cut these scenes from an excellent quality DVD, and believe these may probably be among the best samples you can find today. If you do like these scenes, you'll definitely enjoy the full film, and should be well worth your investment. Needless to say, Highly Recommended Viewing..!




Compilation 1:
The film starts with a quick catalogue of Eric's sexual conquests. They are wild, kinky, but mostly quite funny.

1. Eric picks up a woman from a phone booth, and when she later asks for a 'souvenir', he obliges!
2. He jumps into her car uninvited but somehow manages to bring her home. When she tries to take her top off, Eric asks her to put it back on and removes her panties instead - ostensibly to collect his 'trophy'!
3. Eric with a rather religious girl, and a banana (?)
4. Very funny scene of Eric with a young mum.
5. Eric complains about her fat arse and tiny tits - the annoyed woman spots a photo and enquires about it. When she makes a casual remark, he throws her out onto the street naked.
6. Eric brings home a girl but changes his mind after seeing one of his sculptures.

Compilation 2: Made from three 'interesting' and explicit nude scenes

1. Eric falls in love with Olga the minute he lays eyes on her. He also seems to be obsessed with her bodily fluids - when she needed to use the toilet midway through cunnilingus, he asks her to pee in her mouth instead.
2. They soon get married and Eric is annoyed at the frequent interruptions.
3. Olga and Eric at the beach - sexy and funny.

Compilation 3: Has four scenes

1. Eric is commissioned to make a sculpture for a hospital for which he uses Olga as his model. During a break Olga rushes out from the toilet believing she has cancer, Eric returns after inspecting the contents in the toilet bowl (omitted in my edit) and reassures her it was just the beetroot she had yesterday. He gives her a clean bill of health by pinning her ass with a flower.
2. The Queen is visiting to unveil his sculpture, but the hospital authorities notice Olga's dress is revealing and try their best to keep them away from the Queen's sight.
3. Singing and dancing in the rain - the scene begins rather romantically.
4. Olga's mother had conspired to separate Olga and Eric. Eric sneaks into her room while she's asleep and tries to make love, and the horrible woman barges in and pulls him away.

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Monica Bellucci in "Combien tu m'aimes?" [2005 France, Italy]

Bertrand Blier is one of those directors you'd either love or simply hate. He is an often misunderstood satirist who let's a theme run its course, often to the most brutally honest conclusion, in the process throwing sentiment and wishful thinking out of the window.

M. Blier raises some interesting questions in his 2005 comedy drama, "Combien tu m'aimes?" [Eng. Title: How Much do you Love Me?] - what would you do if you won the lottery, can love be purchased, can a prostitute ever cease to be one, can an ordinary person dream beyond his means. His answers to all these questions are there in the film, if you care to see.

This film could have also made a rather good play because the screenplay and situations have a distinctly theatrical feel about it, and the characters are more or less caricatures of themselves. You have the dreary clerk, who propositions a prostitute to live with him - he intends to use the winnings from a lottery for this purpose, the prostitute who likes the idea of change but finds domestic bliss too humdrum, you have her pimp and husband who's caught between his innate obnoxious nature and feelings of love for her, and you have the clerk's friend - a doctor who pretends to live with a woman who had died years ago. All these characters play out their roles the way M. Blier sees it. And he shows the middle-finger to those who expect a 'conventional' ending. Even some Bertrand Blier fans hate this film, but they forget, this is the way he had always made his films.

There are only a few brief nude scenes in the film, but it is more than made up by the magnetic presence of one Monica Bellucci, who plays the Italian prostitute Daniela, whom bank clerk François hires as a live-in 'wife' for 100,000 Euro a month. Sig.ra Bellucci was already forty when she made this film, but gives womenkind a masterclass in the art of seduction and sensuality, using not much more than her eyes and body. If nothing else, the film is worth a sleepless night at least for those God-given curves. I've therefore included some non-nude but nevertheless sensual and funny scenes that I believe to be the 'visual' highlights of the film, cut straight from my DVD.




Compilation 1: a combination of several scenes:

1. Daniela takes pity on François' low esteem and rewards him by being a loving wife.
2. Daniela and François having sex in the car.
3. An exhibitionist Daniela gives the poor old doctor heart failure when he's summoned to examine her nausea - she even throws up in the scene. But, is it just me who thinks even that is somewhat sexy? (I probably need to go and see somebody!)
4. Mourning over, Daniela asks François to come with her to southern Italy.

Compilation 2 - made from several scenes:

1. This is a funny scene - an annoyed neighbour, distracted by Daniela's loud moans, knocks on their door and asks Daniela not to pretend for the sake of it - she then goes to show them how a real orgasm would actually sound like! The neighbour is played by the sexy and funny Farida Rahouadj.
2. Daniela is brought back home by Charly, her husband-pimp, after threatening poor old François over the consequences. But she's by now grown fond of François' gentle touch and doesn't quite like Charly's anymore. When questioned, she tells him that despite knowing who she was, François gave her back her modesty, to which Charly says he too could give her back her modesty. He summons his bodyguards in, and asks them to touch her all they want. Gérard Depardieu plays Charly, and this is probably the weakest character I've seen him play -  he was probably returning Blier a favour.
3. When Charly allows Daniela to return back to François, she finds him busy shagging his next door neighbour. When she knocks on their door for an explanation, he excuses himself by saying he can't possibly leave her half way, and they ask for a few more minutes to finish the job!
4. François lets Daniela know that he hadn't won the lottery after all, and it was just an excuse to get her to live with him. A furious Daniela also appears to be in love, and for a change, he takes her like a man. What's interesting is Blier shows Daniela crying with ecstasy while making love. Hmmm...!

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Carolina Crescentini in "20 Sigarette" BR720 [2010 Italy]

I was checking out Aureliano Amadei's autobiographical film, "20 Sigarette" [Eng. Title 20 Cigarettes] - because it had won a clutch of awards in the Venice Film Festival last year. I wasn't expecting to find any nude scenes in it, but there was indeed a quick flash from Carolina Crescentini as she puts on a t-shirt in the bathroom. I've included a few seconds of some additional sexy moments for the sake of this post, but they're nothing special - this is just for the record.

The film however is very well made, with some fine cinematography and screenplay. For a debut, it is an impressive achievement for Mr. Amadei, and I believe he'll do pretty well as a writer-director.

Storyline:
Amadei, an aspiring actor, finds himself chosen as an assistant director for a film which happens to be shot in Iraq just after the invasion. But on the very first day of their shoot, they come under attack and Amadei is among the few lucky to have survived. The rest of the film is about his coming to terms with what happened and re-evaluating his life. Ms. Crescentini plays Claudia, Amadei's friend and love interest. Recommended Viewing.





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