Les mille et une perversions de Felicia

Rebecca Brooke was in Europe to film The Image, and stuck around to be in this Max Pecas film. Brooke, whose beauty in sex cinema is second to none, is a busy gal herein, but she gets a run for her money from Beatrice Harnois, her diminutive French co-star for whom this outing came in the middle of a brief career in hardcore. Harnois plays a young teen-ager (Felicia) who is sent by a relative to live with Brooke (Gabrielle) and her husband, played by Jean Roche (Paul), for the summer. It is never clear if this is the summer of Felicia's sexual awakening, or if she is already wide awake, but regardless, her self-appointed mission is to wake up anybody who moves. No one is safe around this kid.

First, Felicia warms up on herself as Paul and Gabby have a session in the kitchen downstairs on the day that Felicia arrives. On to two of fashion photographer Gabby's models whom she catches getting involved with each other in the dressing room after a shoot, and blackmails into letting her watch the full deal. Next she pounces on a lad about her age visiting with his parents for an outdoor barbecue. Gabby is next, in a moonlight tryst in the garden. Then Paul by the firelight, when Gabby is out of town on work. Finally, it's Gabby and Paul together in a bit of makeup sex since Gabby is none too pleased with Paul over his dalliance with Felicia, hers notwithstanding. Let's not gloss over Paul and Gabby's midnight romp al fresco after Felicia barges into their bedroom. I'll bet you didn't think you could do these things in a swimming pool.

In the film's final scene, after Paul and Gabby drop Felicia off at the airport for her flight home, they give a pretty young man a lift back into the city. The happy couple exchange glances which promise Gabby will be a well-used woman in the next few days. We're not sure which of the two is more eager to let the games begin, but her wry smile makes us think the Gabster can't wait to get home so the two guys can get started in on her.

There is plenty of real-time, honest on-screen oral sex performed by the stars, and a few hardcore inserts that look like they were done by body-doubles. Both Brooke and Harnois are naked all over the place, which is a good thing. All voices are dubbed, including Brooke, who is the only non-French actor, in a French melodramatic style that you had better overlook unless you want to spend the entire film in stitches. Other reviewers have commented on the lighting. When the action gets down to the good parts, things sometimes get shadowy and you can't always see the goodies. Pecas is too good of a director to have done that by accident. The background is classic French movie music, which elevates the film above its lowbrow nature. This is a decent semi-hardcore film with enough of a plot to keep you interested and actors who play their sex scenes without the theatrics that you would otherwise expect. It has the look of being made by a filmmaker, rather than by a sex director who threw scenes together. Recommended.

I didn't try to count them, but I think the "Felicia" character in this movie has somewhat less than 1001 perversions. Actually, there are only a few "perversions" on display here, and they are very 70's, very French,and VERY male ones.

This the familiar story of an older but handsome man who has a beautiful wife (Rebecca Brooke), but is tempted by a younger girl, in this case the teenage daughter of his wife's friend who comes to stay with them (Beatrice Harnois, who looks like, but isn't, Leanora Fani). The twist here is that he is not initially interested in the sexually aggressive, petulant nubile (even though she spends about half the movie walking around their home stark naked), so SHE sets her sights on seducing the wife instead! But just to needlessly complicate matters, the guy is a schoolteacher who is being pursued by another scantily clad Lolita (played by an actress who looks like, but isn't, Annie Belle). This girl is one of his students and the niece of his colleague, who keeps bring her and her weird androgynous brother (who looks like, but isn't, the weird, androgynous kid from "Damned in Venice") to the couple's house. You would expect the whole thing would end in divorce, a lesbian conversion, and/or SOMEONE going to jail for corrupting a minor, but then this is a male fantasy above all else where there's nothing that can't be smoothed over by some hot three-way sex!

I've never seen Beatrice Harnois before, but I guess she was in the infamous French film "Pussy Talk", and she was obviously somewhat older than her character here (she actually doesn't look much younger than her "mother's friend"). Rebecca Brooke (aka Mary Medum) was actually an American actress and one of the prettiest girls to ever do hardcore porn (although her hardcore career was limited to a couple scenes in Radley Metzger's "The Image"). Besides her role as the nearly mute, submissive in that notorious S-and-M classic,, she is best known for a a pair of Joe Sarno softcore films "Confessions of an American Wife" and "Abigail Clayton is Back in Town". The French director of this, Max Pecas, had a long career in "Eurotica", but like Jean Rollin, Jose Benzeraf, and some others,he was largely put out of business by the advent of hardcore, a genre he was simply far too talented for. He may not have had a grasp on realistic characterizations or believable action and dialogue, but he really knew how to do some beautiful visuals. (There's one especially impressive scene where he photographs the main couple making love underwater at night in a lighted swimming pool). This movie is not that "perverse" actually, but it is pretty erotic.

"Felicia" is one of Max Pecas' best movies. A happily married couple have their friend's pouty teenage daughter over for a few weeks in the summer. The girl teases, peeks, interrupts and taunts, and seduces. It's beautifully photographed and executed, hardcore but tasteful. Rebecca Brooke (Mary Mendum) and Beatrice Harnois are excellently ast.

I did not give this a 10 due to lighting. How much of the problem with this print was due to American distributor: Excalibur I don't know but there is a break in the middle and inexplicable lighting problems which I doubt a talent of Max Pecas' abilities would overlook, yet it has happened before.

Deauville France is the setting and a charming country home. A 30 something married couple agree to have as a guest, depending on which description is accurate either:

1. the wife's niece or 2. a daughter of a friend of the wife

Beatrice Harnois plays the niece, friend's daughter and she is quite an actress.

One feels as if one is, indeed, peeking into the lives of a couple and their guest.

The delicious Mary Mendum, credited as "Rebecca Brooke," is sultry, stunning, and VERY hot playing the wife whose mind is played with by the Harnois character.

Jean Roche, PAUL, is exceptionally good and outshines many of the more highly regarded "straight" actors whether here(US) or Europe.

This is about a young woman who effectively controls a husband and wife.

Creating some real havoc and conflict along the way.

There is a happy resolution, at least to my view and overall a very erotic film.

As with so many of the early European pornos or erotiques there is genuine character development and storyline.

I might add that what the American distributors often do to these classics is butcher them. For what possible reason I cannot fathom.

America needs to liberate the artistic portrayal of sexuality and sensuality.

If you can find this film it is definitely worth viewing.

It's taken me a long time but I'm glad I persevered and finally procured a DVDs of this title. The origin is Italy and comes with two options, soft and hard. The soft option has no English soundtrack but the hard one does. Now I've been a fan of Rebecca Brooke for some years now and have gradually building up a collection of her work. I love her Joe Sarno stuff, especially "Abigail Lesley is back in town" and "Confessions of a Young American Housewife" where, although not explicit, she and her co-stars are believed to have had full sex on the shoot. On Metzer's "The Image" she went a stage further and dabbled in some hardcore. But believe me that's lightweight compared to this title. Rebecca and Beatrice Harnois really go for it from the get go in what is probably right up there with the best in this genre. The only down side is poor lighting in a couple of scenes which I'm assuming was deliberate. Probably sourced from VHS but if you want to see the best of Rebecca hardcore it doesn't get better than this!