Femmes en location

Au Par Girls (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

British sexploitation film about four beautiful women who travel to London so that they can work as Au Pair girls. I guess there's really not too much of a reason to go into the plot as we simply see all four of them end up nude and in various sexual situations. The most shocking thing about AU PAIR GIRLS is the fact that it was written and director by Val Guest who is best remembered for for various Hammer productions including the wonderful THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN. I was really surprised to see how well he handled the material but then again, all he really had to do is make sure the ladies got naked throughout the running time and that the film never slowed down too much. This is a comedy so are there any laughs? I'd say not really as all of the situations are quite predictable and never overly funny. One girl gets hooked up with the son of her boss. Another gets to live with a weird older couple and so on. The film manages to be entertaining simply because of the four ladies. Gabrielle Drake, Me Me Lay, Nanci Wait and Anita Sector are the four ladies and all of them are obviously beautiful but they also manage to keep a smile on your face. Me Me Lay is probably going to be best remembered for a number of Italian cannibal films that she'd make later in her career. Another good thing is that the film is certainly proud of being made in the 1970s, which means we get some great visuals of the various styles and settings of the period. AU PAR GIRLS isn't a masterpiece and it certainly can't compare to many of the German sexploitation pics of this era but it's still worth watching for fans of the genre.

So, it's cheesy sexploitation from the 70s, but it is really funny. It's like watching Benny Hill with nudity. The nudity is all part of the comedy.

Gabrielle Drake manages to lose her clothes in a barn with the employer's son after they break down in the country. They never do make it home.

Astrid Frank is with an older couple. She has no qualms about parading around naked. Even when she is dressed, knickers are optional. She manages to get picked up by a sheik on her first night.

Me Me Lai of cannibal fame is with a very wealthy family. The son is a pianist - and a virgin! He gets lucky before everyone else.

Nancie Wait is in the hands of a wild daughter her first night. She ends up rocking away her virginity with a rocker.

Lots of laughs.

I decided to check this movie out on Netflix in spite of the uninspiring description given for it, which made it sound like a typical grade B- exploitation flick, just because I wanted to see Gabrielle Drake in something other than reruns of the 1960's TV series *UFO*. But granting that I'm an American too young to have seen much of this genre of films from this era, I found this movie much more enjoyable than I expected. It was thoroughly professionally produced, with consistent and thoroughly professional acting, editing, photography and comedic effects and timing from one end to the other. The plot -- actually, plots (here there are four of them) work perfectly well for what they are, are not especially predictable, and are light on the clichés, and there is some pretty witty dialog, too. Several times I caught myself laughing out loud. Moreover, the, er, mature parts actually fit the true definition of that word for a change, as it seemed to me that the filmmakers were not the least bit shy about how they handled them, being quite unembarrassedly frank to the point of in-your-face (not to mention actually more believable in certain small details than typical American-made Cinemax 2:00 AM fare) in the way they were handled. It may not be high art, but like, say, *Gilligan's Island*, I thought it was quite good for what it was. I'm not surprised to learn that the director actually seems to have a reputation for doing good stuff in other genres.

I remember rather enjoying this a few years back but coming to it again, I wonder why. I guess it always looks good and the girls do rather well but the men do rather let the side down. Why oh why in so many English films about sex do we have to have such inept men along side the pretty girls? What is more this begins predictably enough as a sex farce similar in vein to the Confessions films but about a third of the way through (whilst we are beginning to enjoy the presence of the lovely Me Me Lai) the film asks us to start taking it seriously. Not only that but the central rock club and cannabis sequences are very forced and just look stilted. In short this is neither as innocently silly or as intelligently serious as it seems to intend. Richard O'Sullivan maybe, as such a central figure, could have helped but I reckon this to be one of his worst performances. Just worth it for the ladies.

You can pick apart this film for the cheesiness of some of its scenes, the not so great acting, especially the fake accents, and general flimsy story, but somehow this all works. The absolutely gorgeous Gabrielle Drake (sister of the late, great singer/songwriter Nick Drake) is so sexy, you forget her Scandinavian accent is pretty awful. There is copious nudity here, but there also is a story. I especially liked the scenes with Nan (Me Me Lay) and piano prodigy Rupert, they are more sweet than overtly sexy. The 70's brought a lot of these sex comedies, but this one is far less sleazy than many of them. Its not meant to be a classic, but it is in its genre. If you like these films, its worth watching. The ladies are amazing, which is meant to be the draw in the first place.