Before Showgirls, filmmaker-novelist Christopher Frank's steamy 80s erotic coming-of-age drama (released in 1984 but largely unseen in the USA until 1987) was the ultimate in ogling naked female flesh on the big screen. Is it sleaze or is it art?
Chris Rivault (Valerie Kaprisky) is an 18-year-old budding temptress whose ravishing 38-year-old mother (Caroline Cellier), neglected by her boring businessman husband, takes yearly summers sunning on the topless beaches of San Tropez. Mme. Rivault takes solace, of a kind, in casual love affairs and clubbing, and among the men in her orbit is Romain (Bernard Girardieu, a sort of gigolo/pimp.
Chris, herself has been close to Romain; it is somehow relevant that the previous year she became pregnant (getting an abortion) via a secret fling with a middle-aged family friend. This girl, to put it in uncouth American terms, has already been around the block a few times. Chris starts to play games with assorted beachgoers, ruining relationships and baiting Romain, is she trying to protect her mom, jealously compete with her, or just use sex (including lesbianism) in a generally amoral round of seduction-destruction?
Ironic narration provides the last word (and a suggestion this is all an attack on the haute bourgeoisie, albeit a topless one). One does wish at times for more clarity; even Roger Vadim's trendsetting And God Created Woman (1956), a clear ancestor, had a more decipherable family-dissent plotline behind Brigitte Bardot's superstructure. Both notorious films certainly perpetuated stereotypes of Gallic females as libidos on legs.
An optional choice for international cinema film collections, since it has its "Eurotrash" niche, the feature's Nina Hagen "Kraut rock" soundtrack is certainly an alt-music plus. Perhaps library collections could at least pair the flick with the blockbuster diet-book franchise French Women Don't Get Fat. Because ample proof is on display. The Blu-ray re-release is, suitably, bare-bones (accent on bare), with no disc extras.