Lâche-moi les jarretelles

"It's impossible," gasps Edwige Fenech's character, Gioia Ferretti, while watching her husband, Gianni, and his latest mistress exit their trysting place, in the 1977 Italian sex comedy "The Virgo, the Taurus and the Capricorn." And viewers may feel inclined to agree. What man in his right mind would want to cheat on a woman that looks like Edwige, a perfect-10 Eurobabe for whom most guys would give their left nut to be with? To retaliate, Gioia does the only sensible thing: She hightails it to the island resort of Ischia (near Naples) to sleep with as many men as possible, leaving Gianni to froth and go bonkers back in Roma at the prospect of "having the horns put on him" and becoming a cuckold. (Anyone know the Italian expression for "double standard"?) Anyway, that's the setup for this very entertaining romp, whose central conceit--that of a man cheating on Edwige Fenech--almost puts it in the realm of sci-fi fantasy! Luciano Martino, who had served as producer on many earlier Edwige comedies and some top-notch gialli, here acquits himself nicely in the director's chair (the lucky bastid was also Edwige's real-life partner), Franco Pisano's score is alternately funny and coyly sexy, and Alberto Lionello is very amusing as the increasingly berserk Gianni. The film features any number of comical minor characters and, typical for these comedies, is not afraid to veer into slapstick to provoke a laff. And Edwige? OMG! Mother-naked from her very first entrance, the girl looks absolutely spectacular, whether fully bared, in poolside swimwear or even fully clothed (and she IS fully clothed at least half the time!). She is ridiculously gorgeous. Bottom line: Despite the terrible dubbing, this Italian sex comedy succeeds on both fronts. It is very sexy and pretty darn funny, too.

Virgo, the Taurus and the Capricon, The (1977)

** (out of 4)

Italian sex-comedy has Edwige Fenech playing a housewife who learns that her husband (Alberto Lionello) is cheating on her. At first she just makes him made by flashing her breasts to men but after he does it again she sets her eyes on a good looking gigilo. The latest DVD release features this film uncut with the option of an English or Italian track but those details might not be too important nor is the comedy because the main draw of this film is the body of Fenech. If you're wanting to see the beauty naked then you've come to the right picture because there's plenty of that. As far as the film itself goes, it's really nothing too special. With the idea of a husband cheating on Fenech you have to use your imagination but this does lead to some nice funny moments with the husband running around town trying to catch up with her before she can sleep with someone else. Other funny sequences includes the one where Fenech decides to show her breasts to other men in front of the husband. Lionello does a pretty good job in the role of the husband even though he wildly overacts but this is something that seems to be the case in terms of all male performances from the films I've seen from this genre. As for Fenech, she's as charming as ever and she looks as great as ever. She isn't shy when it comes to showing off her wonderful body and that happens throughout the majority of the running time. A lesser actress would have made this film pretty much worthless but fans of hers will certainly want to check this out.

Edwige Fenech plays a woman whose husband won't sleep with her (thus all plausibility is abandoned from the get-go), but chases after everything else in a skirt. To get back at him she exposes her breasts to all his friends at a pool party and then drags some poor guy into pool house, locks the door, and bounces loudly on the bed while her husband goes crazy outside. He doesn't learn his lesson though and continues his philandering, so she really does cuckold him with a suave gigolo played by Ray Lovelock (who was in "Breakfast at Manchester Morgue" and many other movies better than this one). Don't worry though, it all ends with the usual 70's libertine codas--"I'm OK, you're OK"; "If it feels OK, do it" (however you say that in Italian).

I think this movie would have been a lot funnier if I was halfway fluent in Italian, but it probably would have been infinitely more painful too. Besides, I didn't watch this for the comedy (I wanted to see all those interesting 1970's European fashions that Fenech and the rest of the female cast were NOT wearing ). I do think they incorrectly translated the English title "The Virgin, the Bull, and the Capiricorn". It probably should been the more astrological "The Virgo, the Taurus, and the Capricorn" because I didn't see a bull anywhere--and I definitely see a virgin.

The plot can be summarized as: a woman takes revenge on her adulterous husband. There is nothing else to say about this movie apart from the beauty of the leading actress. It doesn't stand out for any particular feature, but this doesn't make it ugly.