Der französische Salon der Lady O

The title of this movie "Sex Academy" at first makes it sound like an American sex comedy. Then when you see the double-decker bus and the London setting you begin to think for a brief, horrifying minute that it might be a BRITISH sex comedy. If you somehow manage to refrain from ejecting the videotape and hurling it into the nearest fire, it turns out to be something slightly less excrable--a serious softcore drama from expatriate Spanish director Jose Larraz. Larraz is always interesting but this is definitely one of his weaker efforts. It doesn't compare to his better works such as "Vampyres", "Deviation", or "The Coming of Sin". The virtually non-existent plot revolves around a brothel disguised as a music academy for young girls run by Madame Olga (Helga Line). After one of her girls accidentally dies in the company of a powerful client, Madame Olga is forced to hire a young man who witnessed the two of them together. The young man samples the wares, becomes a procurer, and falls in love with one of the girls who is technically a virgin. Of course, this doesn't stop him from having sex with the girl's mother, a couple of her friends, and Madame Olga herself. Finally, he takes the girl to a stable and forcibly deflowers her in a scene that is only slightly more erotic than most barnyard sexual encounters. The movie is not so much bad, however, as it is completely pointless. The only point of interest might be Helga Line who was not afraid to do nude sex scenes even though she was nearly fifty at the time. If you've ever had the misfortune of watching one of the latter-day sex films of a fleshy Marilyn Chambers or a sagging and wrinkled Sylvia Kristel, you'll no doubt be impressed at how good Line still looks here. Of course, that's probably not enough of a reason to actually watch this film.