Pervirella

A duff attempt at reviving the British sex comedy, which just about survives by virtue of not taking itself in the slightest bit seriously. The theme that female libido can be positive and empowering is the only real similarity with "Barbarella" - although the outfits will appeal to men as much here as they did there! Harmless fun (but not too harmless...) and a film that would have a cult following, if it weren't so obscure!

But enough about the film. This is really just a vehicle for the delectable Emily Bouffante (a.k.a. "Bouff") who has her own small but dedicated cult following among the further-flung fringes of British TV fandom.

British sex-humour hasn't progressed much since the seventies. It's still dirty old men behaving foolishly around a parade of young cleavage. "Pervirella" is basically a home-movie with no-budget production values masquerading as camp. The video cover art is great, as is the title, but beware!

I have a friend who is one of the cult bouff fans and he loves this film. He loaned it to me in an attempt to persuade me to join the bouff cult but it pushed me in the opposite direction. On to the movie - where oh where oh where oh where do I start? Duff acting, duff script, duff effects that are befitting of this 'Z' movie. It is supposed to be an arousing comedy but it fails in both areas. If you have committed an evil sin and want to evil up the score with the almighty then watching this film will even up the score.

I loved Pervirella!! Emily Bouffante is just gorgeous, and a fine comedienne. The plot is bizarre but entertaining, and the art direction and costumes are fascinating. The city-scapes are models and full of strange details. What I like best about Pervirella is the positive way the female libido is portrayed. How refreshing to see such unrepentant sexiness. A lot of fun.

If you are a fan of Plan 9 From Outerspace, Troma, Russ Meyer and Terry Gilliam then this is a must see. This is what Barbarella would look like if it would have been directed by Terry Gilliam with 2 dollar budget. Some of the humor reminded me a bit of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste, but don't get me wrong, this one isn't filled with blood, guts and brains. Pervirella is filled with intentional bizarre and obscure, bad humor throughout the whole movie. Made with very low budget that they aren't even trying to hide, but instead underlining it to get few laughs.

I'm fairly confident that this is a movie that most will hate, but then again I'm sure that this is targeted to a very different and certain audience that loves low budget camp b-movies and movies by Ed Wood, Russ Meyer, Troma Entertainment & Monty Python.

And of course, the great and humorous performance of the divine Emily Booth in the title role doesn't really hurt it either