Undici giorni, undici notti

(1987) Eleven Days Eleven Nights/ Undici giorni, undici notti DUBBED DRAMA

This is another one of those movies where the thin and forgettable story line takes a back seat to the nude scenes much of it from Sarah (Jessica Moore). On the first 10 minutes, as she is coming toward a building, a large man wearing sunglasses is taking pictures of her. As he is snapping shots of her coming toward the building up until she goes to this empty floor where there are nothing but unclothed mannequins on different poses. And the obese guy is still taking photos of her. What is odd is that she begins to disrobe, she does not appear to notice him doing this as they are both on the same floor. And it was at this point, I was unable to watch anymore.

Not enough nudity to be classed as 'soft porn', not enough tension to be an 'erotic thriller' and not enough laughs to be a comedy. But Eleven Days, Eleven Nights stands out as one of the better erotic movies in that it has a viable plot, fair acting and the direction & photography are at times exquisite.

The softcore sex scenes contain something for everyone - flashing, sex in a public place, transvestitism, even briefly a threesome. The story centres around a young lady called Sarah writing a book about her 100 sexual conquests, played by the unbelievably mature 19 year-old Jessica Moore. Number 100 is an ordinary American guy named Michael who is working as an engineer on a construction site...the trouble is he's getting married in 11 days time.

As Michael falls for Sarah he doesn't realise that he is merely being used for this book and puts his fiancee (who first suspects, then later knows) through hell even as she prepares for their upcoming wedding. Trouble is, Sarah is falling for Michael too...who will Michael end up with?

This was the film that was an international video hit in 1987, and put Joe D'Amato back on the map as a director. Now available (in the UK at least) on DVD. The low budget is used wisely and rarely shows. Most of the principle actors seem to have had short careers which is a shame...and the opening 10 minutes will make every woman wish she owned a black plastic mac!!

This is notorious Italian director/cinematographer Joe D'Amato's most successful 80's softcore sex flick. It certainly succeeds as standard 80's erotica--and in my estimation even surpasses its most obvious Hollwood inspiration, Adrian Lyne's overrated "9 and 1/2 Weeks"--but it's not nearly as interesting as some of D'Amato's sleazy 70's stuff like a lot of his "Black Emanuelle" films.

The plot involves a female writer who as part of a book project has slept with 99 men (pretty impressive considering the part was played by Jessica Moore who was all of 19 at the time). Her 100th unsuspecting "victim" is an American architect who she first seduces on a New York ferry and then begins a very hot and semi-kinky affair with despite the fact he's due to be married in 11 days (and 11 nights). A love (or lust) triangle soon develops between the writer, the architect, and the latter's bride-to be, but as this is a (not-always-too-believable) male fantasy, you know the one of the women is bound to eventually lose out while the guy will get to have his cake and eat her--I mean, eat it--too.

As always with D'Amato the cinematography is very good and the music while cheesy is actually pretty catchy (much better than the execrable "hits" in "9 and 1/2 Weeks"). The numerous sex scenes are much more silly-kinky than disturbing-kinky and any "drama" here is pretty hard to take seriously. Of course, no small amount of the appeal of this movie is Ms. Moore herself (actually an Italian actress whose real name is Alessandra Ottavia). She had supporting roles in "Don't Fear Aunt Martha" and Lucio Fulci's "Ghosts of Sodoma" where she mostly passed as an ordinary teen, but dolled-up and naked she is absolutely incredible. She has a body like Jessica RABBIT come to life. I kinda would have liked to see her in action with the OTHER 99 guys besides the douchebag in this movie (in one of the kinkier scenes she does try to set up an interracial three-way between her, the architect, and a studly black guy). Moore and D'Amato would team again in the semi-sequel "Top Model". I'd recommend them both.

This is one of those soft core porn movies that try to be mainstream in their plots. It doesn't work either way. The movie is basically crap as a regular movie and there is more skin in any of the reality shows on TV. Dont watch it.

Sarah Asproon (Luciana Ottaviani) is a writer who is working on a book about 100 men with whom she has had sexual adventures. The latest object of her "research" is Michael (Joshua McDonald), an ugly guy she meets on a boat. Unsuspecting of Sarah's true intentions, he immediately falls for her charms and a torrid romance begins, despite the fact that Michael is about to marry Helen (Mary Sellers) in eleven days.

"Eleven Days, Eleven Nights" marked a point of no return in the career of Joe D'Amato. The film was his biggest box office hit, and after that he basically worked in the same style of "American" softcore dramas mostly shot in New Orleans, Louisiana, until returning definitely to hardcore porn in the early '90s.

Despite its cult status today, and the fact that I'm a die-hard D'Amato fan, I have to say that this film disappointed me quite a bit. Perhaps the main problem is that it captured too well the same stupid tone of its source of inspiration, Adrian Lyne's "9 1/2 Weeks," a pseudo-erotic romance falsely marketed as a controversial sadomasochistic tale. If in the original we had Mickey Rourke subjecting Kim Basinger to silly games, here the roles are reversed, with the woman manipulating the man. It could have been interesting if the script had had our heroine coming up with really dangerous situations in order to torment her prey. Instead, we have to endure Sarah forcing Michael to do ridiculous things, like showing up for a dinner at a restaurant dressed as a drag queen! The scene was so poorly executed that we don't see enough reluctance on Michael's part regarding such an embarrassing idea.

Where this film best surpasses its mainstream counterpart is in the T&A department. While the original could easily be rated PG-13, with only a brief bit of nudity from Basinger, this one is very generous in terms of erotic scenes. Ottaviani's impeccable curves found the perfect admirer in D'Amato's lens, with no detail of her body escaping his voyeuristic advances. The more than usual explicit approach, though, resulted in a tremendous continuity error during the first sex scene on the boat. While having sex with Michael in standing position, Sarah lifts one of her legs and the camera can't resist to the exposition of her genitals. The problem is that there is no male genital inserted into it, although the body moves are clearly implying they are in the middle of an intercourse. This error becomes even more blatant given the shadow of an erection that is showed just before the action starts. For the sake of continuity, D'Amato should have avoided the more explicit details.

I won't include among the problems the filler scenes featuring the actors walking through the streets, as I got used to this trademark of D'Amato cinema. However, the music that plays during a long segment featuring Sarah and Michael being stalked by Helen was not appropriate at all. Helen is deeply suffering by seeing her fiancée cheating her, but the upbeat pop song seems to ignore her presence and her feelings during this sequence.

Mary Sellers did a good job playing Helen, a woman insecure about her physical potential to attract men who sees her dreams of marriage menaced by the presence of voluptuous Sarah. Unfortunately, her character didn't receive enough attention by the fragile script. By the other hand, Joshua McDonald was one of the worst choices for a male protagonist I ever saw, as his Michael is not only ugly but also very irritating. It is impossible to believe that a goddess like Luciana Ottaviani is interested in someone like him. He has the charisma of a brick, and the movie needed urgently another male lead. Laura Gemser, as usual in the period, has the typical clothed cameo as Sarah's editor. Some sourcers say Valentine Demy has a cameo in this movie, but I couldn't spot her.

D'Amato does an excellent work as director of photography and this aspect, together with the stunning presence of Ottaviani are the only two factors that save "Eleven Days, Eleven Nights" of being a total disaster.