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Le Malizie di Venere
Venus in Furs
Venus im Pelz / Venere in Pelliccia / Devil in the Flesh / La Venus en Fourrure / Das Mädchen Wanda / Venere Nuda
Italy / West Germany / Switzerland 1969
produced by Alfredo Leone for VIP Production, Roxy Film
directed by Massimo Dallamano
starring Laura Antonelli, Régis Vallée, Loren Ewing, Renate Kasché, Werner Pochath, Mady Rahl, Wolf Ackva, Peter Heeg, Josil Raquel, Michael Kroll, Fred Newman
written by Fabio Massimo, based on the novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, music by Gianfranco Reverberi
review by Mike Haberfelner
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While on a holiday trip, successful writer Severin (Régis Vallée)
crosses paths with lovely Wanda, who resides in a bungalow next to his, so
he can conveniently spy into her room. And as she's rather promiscuous,
there's plenty to see - enough for him to eventually chat her up, and
before you know it they end up in bed together. Only after sex does she
admit she knows he has spied in on her, and it got her off. He immediately
wants to make her his girlfriend, but at first she refuses, loving her
sexual freedom too much. Thing is, he wants her to sleep around and wants
her to make him suffer, also physically, as childhood experiences have in
his mind linked pain to pleasure. And to prove he's a worthy boyfriend,
Severin lets Wanda seduce a fisherman (Werner Pochath) pretty much before
his very eyes. Soon the two get married and move into a wonderful villa in
Spain, where he poses as her chauffeur. But their relationship soon gets
its first cracks when she visits a man (Michael Kroll) without telling him
about it, and jealousy kicks in - even if that man was just a painter she
wanted to paint her as a surprise. So Severin suggests for him to paint
her, in the nude of course, in their villa, and afterwards he pretty much
forces her to seduce the painter, again before his very eyes. Only she
doesn't enjoy this all that much and starts treating Severin like shit. To
the point that she picks up a biker, Bruno (Loren Ewing), invites him to
stay at the villa, and has sex with him without allowing Severin to watch.
And Bruno has quite a violent streak to him, so Severin doesn't dare to
oppose - so eventually Severin just leaves, and ultimately finds happiness
in the arms, and under the whip, of a pain-loving prostitute. Above
all else, Venus in Furs is a wonderful time capsule from the late
1960s, in style, in (enjoyably jazzy) score, in its attitude towards
sexuality, and its depiction of the same. Sure, much of what the film has
to say about sexuality seems terribly outdated now, some of it even
misogynist, but arguably that's part of the fun of watching vintage
erotica. Apart from all that, the film is rather beautifully shot and the
late 1960s coolness the film exudes is almost irresistible, so if that
era's at all yours, this film is almost a must-see.
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