Femmes de luxe

This film essentially begins with an elderly millionaire by the last name of "Lemeni" (Gino Cervi) inviting some of his friends to take a cruise with him on the Mediterranean in his private yacht. Although his stated intention for this cruise is supposedly for fun and relaxation, his real objective is to kindle a romantic relationship between his son "Ugo Lemeni" (Ugo Tognazzi) and beautiful fashion model named "Luciana" (Sylva Koscina). Naturally, not wanting to have his deception uncovered, he also invites a professional photographer named "Walter" (Walter Chiari) to come aboard and take pictures of her for a magazine layout. Likewise, some other people are also invited onto the yacht to include Mr. Lemeni's young daughter "Mariella" (Gisella Sofio), an old acquittance named "Alberto Bressan" (Gabriele Ferzetti). His wife "Adriana Bressan" (Belinda Lee), "Count Luca di Sauvin" (Ivan Desny) and his former wife "Elena Le Garde" (Caprice Chantal). Additionally, one other passenger includes an attractive, young lady named "Greta" (Elke Sommer) who, although not invited, has secretly smuggled herself on board out of fear that Walter might fall in love with Luciana. And while her fears are probably justified, the fact is that everyone else on board is also sharing comparable thoughts about each other. Count Luca di Sauvin, for example, is secretly in love with Adriana, while Alberto has similar feelings for Elena. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a better romantic-comedy than I had initially expected. Admittedly, the overall plot is rather tame by today's standards and somewhat dated as well. But even so, what it lacks in eroticism is more than made up for by the presence of several beautiful actresses--with Sylva Koscina and Elke Sommer standing out the most, in my opinion. Be that as it may, while this movie may not appeal to all viewers, I enjoyed it for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I wanted to see it because of Ugo Tognazzi and Elke Sommer. Elke is super delicious, very young, she looks gorgeous and despite her small role, she is the best, the funniest and the most convincing of all. Ugo, very young himself, the great actor of later, has a rather stupid and ungrateful role. There are other notable actors: Gabriele Ferzetti, Belinda Lee, Walter Chiari, Sylva Koscina, Gino Cervi, Ivan Desny, but the whole movie is a static talk aboard a yacht. Those 5 stars are all for Elke Sommer.

I watched this unknown movie only because it has two of the most beautiful actresses who ever lived - Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina - in its cast. I can't say I was completely disappointed - they both appear in skimpy clothing and they both are criminally sexy (the rest of the ladies are nice-looking as well) - but if you want to see them in a film that actually gives them something to do, check out their next pairing, the 1966 spy adventure "Deadlier than the Male". "Femmine di lusso" is meant to be a romantic comedy about the various relationships between the people who are travelling on a private cruise ship somewhere off the coasts of Italy. But there is so little chemistry between the pairs that we don't care who ends up with who; as for the comedy, the movie's only - and I do mean ONLY - joke is that the ship's owner thinks a photographer on board is gay and tries to keep his son away from him. The film is mostly talk, interrupted only for some sightseeing of the beautiful Italian locations. The silliest element: Elke Sommer is in love with the photographer I mentioned above, but he prefers looking at other girls and he considers her a burden (!!!). Having him kidnapped by aliens would have been more believable. (**)