Monamour

Watching people behave with sex only on their minds without any care for social norms at all. You will find no class or style in this movie. Another tit and bum factory piece of work. The musical scores were as bland and the many empty sets and settings. It is in fact an old mans wet dream acted out by middle aged actors that lacked any passion at all, which is what the movie tries to sell and does so very poorly. It's just smut.

Tinto Brass is still probably best known in the English speaking world for "Caligula", however most people don't realize that he's had quite the career up through today making soft-core erotica, the type of which hasn't been made much since about the 1970s.

What sets Tinto apart is that he has a very specific list of things that obviously turn him on such as: unshaven underarms, mirrors, infidelity, and most famously, the female rear end. All of these tend to show up in all of his films, including "Monamour". So, it can sometimes feel like if you've seen one Tinto Brass film then you have seen them all. They differ however in quality of script, actors, and scenery. "Monamour" is paint by numbers Tinto Brass. Tinto fans will find all of the usual hallmarks in this film, however little more. I am a bigger fan of his earlier films that I feel have better plots, acting, and scenery while touching upon the exact same themes as this one.

As other reviewers have commented, it feels like later day Tinto films feature female characters who are less realistic than in his earlier films, and certainly no woman in real life would ever act like the lead character in "Monamour" who basically can't say no to any man (or woman) who wants to touch her. This is pure male fantasy, making this film a bad choice I think for couples, especially when compared to Tinto's earlier films. A single male however, provided that he enjoys the same things Tinto enjoys can enjoy this film just fine, especially as Anna Jimskaia is one of the more beautiful Tinto Brass leading ladies in my opinion, and you do see a lot of her!

Delivering on the strengths of beloved director Tinto Brass in seemingly his final feature film of his career. After watching his prior 1992's film, both films are somewhat similar in styles, tones and overall erotica of explicitness. However that film's leading woman was a lot more likeable as opposed to the lead in this film "Monamour" who simply comes across as manipulating her ways throughout with teases of each men for her desire. As with his style, there are constant random close up shots to woman's bottoms and privates', and brief explicit scenes. The plot flows as an art house soft core with minimal dialogue.

If you've never seen a Tinto Brass movie, this is not a good place to start. Tinto is at his best when he's not taking himself seriously, and in Monamour he attempts some sort of depth that he just can't pull off. What's worse, the plot feels like a recycled version of one of his better films - 1992's Cosi fan Tutte - but with all the wrong choices made; Cosi fan Tutte was light-hearted and featured a strong female lead in Claudia Koll, who was in charge of her own fate the whole time; the lead in Monamour is a despicable and unlikable character who succumbs to the will of men around her. While the two characters end up having similar journeys, the viewer just can't forgive Monamour's Marta as he did Diana from Cosi fon tutte. And the fact that the movie takes itself so seriously makes the erotica disturbing and off-putting, unlike the playfulness in Cosi fon Tutte.

Monamour has good cinematography and some well-shot sex scenes which are both a given with Tinto, but the sex is more disturbing than it is enticing. While Cosi fon Tutte was almost feminist (sort of) and is lots of fun for a couple to watch together, Monamour feels more like a horny old man's fantasy, and it just doesn't work.

Just as the British have a lock on double entendre dialogue and presenting really dirty sexual situations with a dollop of humour which makes the whole thing funny and not the least offensive, I found this film with its explicit sex (everything except penetration) a light-hearted, humorous and altogether engaging bedroom romp. Sure some of the shots are almost medical in their precision and you'd better like butt shots because they abound but the whole thing is so lightweight, so non-serious that it's almost an escapist film. Sexy as hell but not pornographic.