Delta of Venus

Although certainly not the greatest movie ever made, Delta of Venus manages to convince with it's Parisian setting and a feeling of revelry in the face of stark reality. Audie England is rather fetching as the ingenue American writer becoming embroiled in the Parisian milieu of sex, drugs and personal drama, played with almost frantic intensity before the creeping tide of Nazism. Based on the writings of Anais Nin, Delta of Venus contains some extremely erotic scenes and is well worth a look.

Some of the plot elements of this film were vaguely familiar to me, and I don't know if it is from reading "Delta of Venus" lo, those many years ago, or maybe from "Henry and June" the film about Nin and Henry Miller, from 10 years ago or so. Anyway, this is an exceptional film for its genre, with good acting, direction, and pretty decent other assorted production values. I had never seen or heard of Audie England, and her beauty just floored me. Wow! Anyway, if you can at all tolerate soft-core erotica, this film is recommended. Grade: B+

"Delta of Venus", director Zalman King's erotic adaptation of

praised writer Anais Nin's book, is a lush, sexy, dramatic film. It's 1940 Paris and young aspiring writer Elena Martin begins a hot affair with smut author Lawrence. One night Elena catches Lawrence in the arms of another and leaves him, then she supports herself as a nude model and begins writing erotica for a wealthy male patron. But she can't write about it until she experiences it first. I highly recommend both the book "Delta of Venus" and the movie version as well.

"Delta of Venus" is UNRATED for strong sexual sequences, graphic nudity, and for some language.

NOTE: "Delta of Venus" is available in a slightly cut R Rated version that omits one minute of sexual footage, and an UNRATED version that restores the cut minute.

I thought this was one of the best erotic films I've seen. The cinematography was wonderful and really caught the mood of WWII Paris. I was deeply involved in the story not just witnessing it. The trouble with most films that center around sex is that that is all there is. I found that the emotions surrounding the characters just made the love scenes that much more real and intense. It is a drama, though. Touching and deep.

Anais Nin's infamous book is brought to the screen by King, the man who put the "soft" in soft-porn. It is full of attractive actors and beautiful cinematography, much like a shampoo commercial. The leads (England and Mandylor) try hard to convey the smoldering lust that lies behind their supposedly passionate but rather vacuous stares but then they open their mouths and utter either sweet nothings or something unbelievably pretentious and it just ruins everything. There is a fair amount of nudity and simulated sex (although the NC-17 rating is puzzling) but the frenetic editing destroys the mood just as things start to get interesting. Read the book instead.