Così fan tutte

Tinto Brass is usually referred to as either a misunderstood genius or a talentless hack. Cosi fan tutte ("All Ladies Do It") proves that he's neither one. When he doesn't take himself too seriously (which, unfortunately, he does quite often) the man is perfectly capable of creating fun, well-polished, strict entertainment. Cosi fan tutte certainly slips into the realm of pornography on occasion, but it has a sense of lightness and fun that breaks the ice and avoids real discomfort, and even, in some ways, a certain feminist sensibility (though the moral of the story shouldn't be taken as a very serious statement). It's a funny, sexy, beautifully shot erotic comedy that doesn't drag along too much and should be quite a lot of fun for open-minded couples to watch together.

Maestro Brass is usually considered to be either most underrated or most overrated director in Italy. "All Women Do It" is his another, most successful exercise in stylish porn, with anal fetish and ridiculous morality. Not sexy, but that, kind of, is the point.Has a certain innocent charm, but then again, nothing more than just a porn film. *

Great cinema is a matter of many elements drawn from a vocabulary, formed into a great weave.

From time to time, it is enough for me to dive into a tone poem on just one element of the vocabulary. Eroticism is inherently cinematic and the other way around as well. But it seems that as much as sex is used, it rarely seems to be simply erotic. By "simple," I mean something that may not exist in the real world, that is noninvasive and nonexploitive. That has the same purity that romance has in the date movie.

...which means it has to be shaped and conveyed with cinematic quality. Some of Brass's later films do this, I think. I like "Paprika" but that's largely because of the surrounding story, I think. Brass found a woman in a pizza shop and built the movie around her. But this may be his best in terms of cinematic values.

Its not for everyone. Female fantasies of this type are connected to bodies and for mysterious reasons we're all over the place on that. But you might look at this simply for overall effect, especially how the camera is not casual, but the woman at the center is. Tat difference is part of the engineering, and notable.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

All Ladies Do It (1992)

** (out of 4)

Italian erotic film from the director of Caligula tells the story of Diana (Claudia Koll), a woman happily married to her husband (Paolo Lanza) for five years. Even though she loves him more than anything that doesn't take away her sexual desires for other men. The husband can't stand not being the only one but perhaps after time he'll learn that "all ladies do it". This is only my second film from Brass and his visual style is certainly on full display here even though his story telling skills aren't the greatest. I was shocked at how well the screenplay actually was because a lot of softcore efforts place the story second behind the sex but that really wasn't the case here. The message of a woman having the right to be "sexual" without being labeled "sluts" was taken very serious by the film. Brass does a very good job with the look of the film with some great cinematography and some wonderful set designs. The biggest issue I had with his direction is that the entire film comes off as a butt fetish video as Brass is constantly zooming in on women's behinds. I like a good butt as much as the next person but after a while it grows quite tiresome but the scene where the women decide to go skinny dipping is priceless. The performances aren't really anything special but they do the job and in the end God knows there's a lot worse out there than this.

I believe that this film is the best from all Tinto Brass' movies. It is funny and interesting, and, the most important, Claudia Coll is very good in that role. It is surprising to me that maestro Brass had never done anything better than this film. Most of his movies are boring, and even sex sceens don't help.