Top Sensation

Eurobabes Edwige Fenech (5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON) and Rosalba Neri (LADY FRANKENSTEIN) get wicked, kinky and naked in this bizarre Italian thriller. A rich, sicko socialite (Maud Belleroche) plays weird sex/mind games using a parasitical young couple (Neri, Maurizio Bonuglia), a golddigging prostitute (Fenech) and her own mentally disturbed son as pawns. Most of the action takes place aboard a luxury yacht cruising the Mediterranean. The games get out of control, resulting in murder when the yacht stops at a rustic island populated by sheperds. (The scene with Fenech and the baby goat is simply unbelievable.) Composer Sante Romitelli's interesting score is kitschy and groovy at the same time. The movie looks and sounds terrible on bootleg VHS... Positively screams for a widescreen DVD release!

Rosalba Neri, Edwige Fenech and Eva Thulin. All in one film and in and out of their clothes, throughout, I barely need to say any more. And yet, all three perform really well, be it barely clothed or nude and the film moves at a decent pace with constant surprises and sharp dialogue. A middle aged woman (who seems to have a preference for women) owns a smart boat and takes a young couple along with her son and a hooker in an attempt to get the son to recover from his madness by having sex with Fenech (the hooker). As you can see she is as mad as her son, but all get it on in various ways and much fun is had. There is also a shepherd and his young wife (Thulin) and an amorous goat who Fenech seems to take a shine to. This is an early film for Fenech, who would go on to make some classic giallo, but at only 21 she certainly gets stuck into the sex scenes even if Neri steals all the other scenes. She is 10 years older here, a veteran of many films already and assuredly takes centre stage, especially when given a gun to hold! Really good fun.

Because of its elusiveness and because of the poor quality copies that did circulate, Top Sensation developed a reputation that it really doesn't deserve. It is not a thriller. The exploitation goodies, while present, are not as numerous as what one might expect giving its X rating (now, easily an R). Still, Top Sensation provides undemanding viewers with a good time throughout its short running time.

The film could be accurately called seven loonies on a boat. Mudy is a rich, decadent bi-sexual on a private cruise. Her yacht is staffed by an ambitious, morally dubious couple, both of whom are sleeping with the boss. In addition, there is a hired companion (the lovely Edwige Fenech) along to seduce the boss's son. The young man suffers from a mental illness which makes him act like a child. In 70's swinger psychology, mom thinks getting him laid will turn him into a man. The only thing is that boy won't come near his girl toy (turning down Edwige Fenech? The poor boy is worse than I thought!). When the yacht runs aground on a sandbar, the son sneaks off to explore a nearby island. There, he befriends a young, innocent shepherdess. Mom and company are thinking the girl might be good at tending something besides sheep, but what to do with her husband?

This is a silly film, but one that is hard to dislike. It moves along at a nice pace. The viewer is never bored. There is a pleasant music score. The scenery is gorgeous and so are the girls. Edwige Fenech, Rosalba Neri, and Eva Thulin all radiate charm in their bikinis (and occasionally less). In addition, once in a while director Ottavio Alessi will go for an arty touch just because (check out the editing on the scene where the two more experienced girls make up the shepherdess). As nautical themed sex dramas go, Top Sensation is far more fun than Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon.

This nauseous thriller tells the turpitudes of Mudy (Maud de Belleroche, the French fascist writer), a wealthy owner of a yacht flying the Panamanian flag, cruising in company of a decadent couple acting as her harem, Aldo (Maurizio Bonuglia, Giornata nera per l'Ariete) and Paola (Rosalba Neri, Amuck alla ricerca del piacere).

Aldo and Paola want to get from Mudy an important oil concession, but this should have a price: they have to find the proper way to wake up the mind of Mudy's mentally retarded son Tony (Ruggero Miti, La Rivoluzione sessuale), by awakening his sexual instincts. For the purpose, they have brought aboard the top prostitute Ulla (Edwige Fenech, Cinque Bambole per la luna d'agosto), but Tony is very shy and feels quite ill-at-ease.

Fortunately, or not, the yacht unattended by Aldo is drifted along an isolated island only dwelt by a couple of young yokelish peasants, Andro (Salvatore Puntillo, Il Vero e il Falso) and Beba (Eva Thulin, La Stagione dei sensi). Tony seems attracted by the pretty shepherdess Beba, and becomes talkative with her. Mudy decides to bring aboard the rag-clothed girl and to debauch her so that she could warm up her simpleton Tony, while keeping apart the husband Andro with astounding promises.

But it's never so good for poor people to get mixed up with rich and cynical ones, and playing the Cinderella under such depraved circumstances could actually become perilous: things won't go as they were planned by everybody. Between the dies irae of the opening credits arranged by the composer Sante Maria Romitelli and the Ecclesiastes quotation at the end, the drama, in a precocious Pasolini's Salo-like mood, will tighten up on the protagonists of this hot and stifling seafaring closed circuit. (Viewed in Italian 1h29 version.)

Rosalba Neri and Edwige Fenech in the same film...what could possibly go wrong? Very little, it would seem, as what we have here is a sensational slice of Italian trash that works in every way you could want it to. The film is something like Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water mixed with naked women and a handful of Giallo themes. It's a real shame that this film hasn't been given a proper DVD release, as while the seductive nature of the film still shines through on the bootleg DVDr that I saw it on, the film would be much better served with a crisp, clean picture and adequate sound. Anyway, the plot focuses on the events transpiring on a yacht. Mudy - a stone-cold matriarch, wants her son to get laid. Tony is an odd kid to say the least, and even when Mudy recruits Aldo and his sexy wife Paula (Rosalba Neri), as well as saucy prostitute Ulla (Edwige Fenech), he still doesn't seem interested. It's only when he bumps into farm girl Beba that his interest seems to be sparked, and his mother quickly insists on the pair returning to her boat. However, the lovely ladies decide to start playing games with the boy's new girl...

Despite the fact that the film doesn't go too far, it is amazingly sexy, and that is of course down to its female leads. Director Ottavio Alessi makes good use of his women, and scenes involving Edwige Fenech and a goat, as well as a three way lesbian scene stand out most. Neri and Fenech spend most of the movie wearing hardly anything, and neither one minds taking their top off - which is fine by me. The plot doesn't take a backseat to the sex and nudity, however, and that's what really makes Top Sensation stand out above similar films. The way that the yacht is rigged with cameras makes the film feel all the more sleazy, and the idea of a mother trying to get her son laid is exactly whiter than white either. The sleazy elements exist in harmony with the storyline, which makes the film feel more complete than your average porno. The characters are all presented in an interesting way, and the director does well at ensuring that the plot is always interesting by upping the stakes at the right time throughout. The ending is shocking enough, and overall - Top Sensation comes highly recommended to all fans of Italian sleaze!