All Ladies Do It

call me crass, but i preferred the higher titillation factor of "Cheeky", another anally fixated comedy from tinto brass...

although "all ladies do it" has some witty moments (when compared to say, "cheeky"), they are destroyed by the hateful dubbing... i'm sure this movie has more appeal in its native language... next time someone transfers this to a boxed set, USE SUBTITLES! there are not enough genuinely erotic or explicit moments... it teases, to be sure, but the centerpiece of the movie is distinctly uninviting... a huge carnal disco on the outskirts of town, with enough freak factor to fuel the warhol factory... unfortunately, the synthesis of 80's dance music and bopping italians may make for some good laughs, but little excitement...

the story is virtually identical to "cheeky" and "monella"... the bored wife of an "uptight" man (in brass world, anyone who doesn't get excited by his wife cheating on him) is intrigued by all the sexual tension around her, and decides to live in a state of hedonism... she does maintain that she reserves her love for her husband, but it takes awhile for him to come around to the idea...

the main male character is horrible to watch... during the sex scenes, he grits his teeth, strains his neck muscles, and basically freaks out... not something you'd like to witness...

once again, brass uses all his trademarks... mirror shots, overheads of black and white corridors, seduction in the toilet, urination, plenty of derrière, and laughable philosophy... normally i would smile and accept his vision of an impossibly ripe world, but this movie somehow disappoints, even with low expectations... some crisp and bold colours though... tinto could make a fortune filming washing powder ads...

I believe that this film is the best from all Tinto Brass' movies. It is funny and interesting, and, the most important, Claudia Coll is very good in that role. It is surprising to me that maestro Brass had never done anything better than this film. Most of his movies are boring, and even sex sceens don't help.

Great cinema is a matter of many elements drawn from a vocabulary, formed into a great weave.

From time to time, it is enough for me to dive into a tone poem on just one element of the vocabulary. Eroticism is inherently cinematic and the other way around as well. But it seems that as much as sex is used, it rarely seems to be simply erotic. By "simple," I mean something that may not exist in the real world, that is noninvasive and nonexploitive. That has the same purity that romance has in the date movie.

...which means it has to be shaped and conveyed with cinematic quality. Some of Brass's later films do this, I think. I like "Paprika" but that's largely because of the surrounding story, I think. Brass found a woman in a pizza shop and built the movie around her. But this may be his best in terms of cinematic values.

Its not for everyone. Female fantasies of this type are connected to bodies and for mysterious reasons we're all over the place on that. But you might look at this simply for overall effect, especially how the camera is not casual, but the woman at the center is. Tat difference is part of the engineering, and notable.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

(1992) All Ladies Do It/ Così fan tutte DUBBED EROTIC COMEDY

Edited, co-written and directed by Tinto Brass that has a young wife, Diana (Claudia Koll) flirting with some French guy, Alphonse (Franco Branciaroli) on the dance floor while her husband, Paolo (Paolo Lanza) was sitting nearby watching naked women exhibition. And as soon as she goes into the bathroom, it is during then Alphonse follows her always complimenting her rump. And just when he is about to make a move on her, is when her husband knocks on the door, shouting her name to come out. As soon as Diana acknowledges her husband's presence calling her behind the door, she pretends to finish using the toilet, only to drag Alphonse behind the door, only so her husband would be unable to see him. Paolo tells her he is bored and wants to leave, and while he was driving she then tells him, she was about to make out with a French guy had he not knock onto the door, and she tries to motivate him to reenact that moment. It was at that point, he believes she was only making it up only to get an arouse out of him. And when she does succeed getting that from him, they then make out during an area where prostitutes happened to be hanging out. They would then make out some more at their place of residence as she is feeding him more stories he believes she is making it all up. We then see Diana go to her place of work, as she takes transit with two different guys standing opposite side of her, only so each of them can grope her whenever the bus makes a disruption. When Diana realizes this was happening, she would then make adjustments that ended up one passenger unintentionally groping the other male passenger by moving herself to a different aisle, and this time on front of a priest. By the time she gets off, then viewers get to witness what kind of work she does and it happens to be a clothing store. And of course, her boss also appears to be in on groping his female co-workers. One of them eventually makes out with him, until she receives a telegram about her aunt passing away. By the time she goes to seek what her aunt's will consisted about, she then makes out with a former flame, Marco (Marco Marciani) before she decides to go and see the French guy, Alphonse again. And upon taking her upstairs to his main bedroom, we then find out he is clearly a fan of woman's rump kind of guy, as he has plenty pictures and statuettes plenty of women's behind. After this was done, Diane and her husband make out some more after watching some of her aunt's provocative black and white news reels as she filmed herself on her affairs with other people. And as soon as her husband, Paolo spots a hickey on her, he then did not want anything to do with her accusing her of cheating at the same time. And this is when those nuances end is when she sends over her best friend, Nadia (Ornella Marcucci) to convince him to take her back in a pretentious kind of way. And when she does come over to help her friend, she becomes offended when he does not comply to her advances. If Nadia believes about her having an affair, why not offer a threesome. The movie does not say.

Anyways there is a ton of nudity, some of the scenes are just as ridiculous as the others that kind of suggests the writer/ director Tinto Brass must have receive a ton of letters or read many to come up with so many unlikely nuances. And all of the silliness was amusing up to a specific point when she does not mind cheating on her husband Paolo, but the movie does not address whether she would not mind if her husband was cheating on her with other women. Diana obviously prefers to be married to someone who wants an open marriage when her husband wants to be with only one person, and that person is happens to be his wife.

Tinto Brass is usually referred to as either a misunderstood genius or a talentless hack. Cosi fan tutte ("All Ladies Do It") proves that he's neither one. When he doesn't take himself too seriously (which, unfortunately, he does quite often) the man is perfectly capable of creating fun, well-polished, strict entertainment. Cosi fan tutte certainly slips into the realm of pornography on occasion, but it has a sense of lightness and fun that breaks the ice and avoids real discomfort, and even, in some ways, a certain feminist sensibility (though the moral of the story shouldn't be taken as a very serious statement). It's a funny, sexy, beautifully shot erotic comedy that doesn't drag along too much and should be quite a lot of fun for open-minded couples to watch together.