Huckepack

Lord, this sucked. There's a particular sort of sexual revolution flick from the 60s that manages to confuse sexual assault with sexual liberation. This film is an example. I lost track of how many times women are slapped, hit, whipped, or spanked in the film. And then there are all the times that women in the film fantasize about being slapped, hit, whipped or spanked (you know they want it, right?). Sometimes it is ostensibly part of safe fetish play-acting. Other times it plainly isn't, but you will wait in vain to see the heroine report to authorities that she has just been raped. Instead we get to hear her being lectured by her rapist about her inability to "let go".

Every scene of this film reeks of misogyny (speaking as a straight, white, married man in his late 30's, not a teenage lesbian women's studies major with a chip on her shoulder, lest you get the wrong idea).

Perhaps the one good thing about this film is that it provides a stark reminder of just how bad things really were for women only a few short decades ago.

If you can suspend your judgement a bit, and not hold this film/story to current-day "morality", this film can be a very enjoyable experience. Watching Catherine Spaak explore and develop her personality and desires is fascinating, and Jean Louis Tritignan's love for her is evident. Interesting that the director cast two french lead actors for an italian film - I wonder why that is. The sets are gorgeous and interesting, the cinematography by Alfio Contini is splendid.

There is a region B (Europe) bluray version available, and it is such high quality that this could have been filmed in the past few years.

Also available is a remastered 2022 version of the soundtrack by Armando Trovajoli at bandcamp - search for "bandcamp La Matriarca soundtrack".

It's many versions of the same theme tune "l'amore dice ciao", and is a lovely atmosphere album. I wonder if any other films have used the same single song to provide the soundtrack for the whole film.

A pampered young widow (Catherine Spaak) discovers that her deceased husband was a pervert after finding his secret penthouse and stash of stag films (which strangely seem to be professionally shot and edited). She decides to get post-humous revenge on him by embarking on a series of perverse sexual escapades of her own. She buys a copy of Freud's "Psychpathis Sexualis" (I don't know why she doesn't start with "The Joy of Sex" or something and work her way up) and experiments with an number of strange, but relatively harmless, perversions before finding true love with her chiropractor (Jean Sorel).

Some may find this movie pretty slow and lacking in both sex and nudity. It has some really ridiculous dialogue (or rather monologue--as the lead seems to constantly talk to herself in voice-over or out loud). It seems pretty innocent by today's standards, but it also has startlingly cavalier attitude toward sexual promiscuity. And some of the passages the heroine reads in voice-over from her book (such as the account of a sexual sadist who bites off his partner's nose during sex) are quite jarring compared to the silly and much more wholesome things she actually does. Still I liked this film for it's odd combination of sex and the 60's-era nostalgia you feel watching it today. Catherine Spaak is unbelievably cute and naturally sexy in a way that woman just aren't anymore in the modern world of breast implants and 24-hour-a-day fitness centers. The final image of her nearly naked and in sexual ecstasy as she (literally) rides her boyfriend around the penthouse apartment is very memorable.

Pasquale Campanile was also a pretty damn good director who years later would helm the memorable giallo "Hitchhike". He and his fellow countryman Massimo "Venus in Furs" Dallamano actually might have done "Eurotica" better than more famous European directors like Jesus Franco, Jean Rollins, and Jose Larraz, but they are much less internationally renowned today, probably because their work never crossed into the horror and fantasy genres. It's very worthy stuff, nevertheless--seek it out.

I only really watched this for catherine spaak and im glad i did. It was sexy and catherine was so gorgeous but the plotline was a bit to daft for me. A widower finds out her husband was a sex pervert and sets out to engage in multipe acts of outrageous sexual adventures herself. I couldnt shake off the feeling that i was just watching a female Confessions of a Window Cleaner film. And thats not good. I would have given this a 7 despite that but then i watched the ending and it was rubbish. Absoulte tosh. So its a 6/10.

PS Do all italian films have such dubbing problems? Its an italian film, everyone is speaking italian, but i swear every character looked like they were dubbed and out of synch. Its weird.

Armando Trovajoli's theme music to this is freaking amazing. There's a vocal and instrumental version and I love them both. Seek them out on youtube. Catherine Spaak is equally amazing. The perfect blend of high art mixed with air-headed goofiness here. America was never able to reach this goal. Not even with Joe Sarno. There's gonna be scathing critics who claim early 70s sex comedies were misogynistic and making light of rape culture. But of course had we not gone through the process of confronting our own sexuality on screen, both good and bad. we'd never have the perspective we do now on human psychology as a whole. It's easy for people to stand on top of the tower and look down in judgement on the people at the bottom. When they were the same ones who protested its creation in the first place. Never once does this film condone angry violence towards woman as a good thing. And Spaak is so successful in showcasing her talent and beauty, as she goes from one great outfit to the other, we let go of the nearly non existent plot and simply go along for the ride. And a very fun ride it is. Even with past tragedy lurking underneath. It's answers to life's problems are crude and simple, that only work for some people, (let go, be kinky and have fun) but it does acknowledge them. And it doesn't try to hide its head in the sand the way some screwball comedies (or superheroes and fantasies for that matter) would tend to take you.