Esotika Erotika Psicotika

It's hard for me to rate this movie because I have no reference to what porn or sexploitation film was like in the late 60s. This is definitely not one of those seedy production, but actually a decent dramatic movie.

I understand that the director was born in New York, but the movie has European flavor to it. The world was going through the sexual revolution, and many experimental films were created during this period. What I see in this movie is what the French used to call Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) where the reason for the story takes back seat to the unintelligible vagueness that's supposed to enhance the artistry of the production.

Nouvelle Vague didn't last too long as it didn't gather much following, but there were more than few of this type of movies made by Jean-Luc Godard and Roger Vadim. In fact, the film strongly reminds me of Roger Vadim's style of film making.

I have to give credit to the beauty of this film. The director certainly has eyes for keeping interesting and clean appearance to the picture.

How you rate the story of the movie probably differs widely depending on the audience. I kind of liked it for its modern appearance, and interesting story.

It really took me back in time to experience what it was like to live in the '60s and very early '70s. It will probably do the same to you.

This was one of the films that brought Radley Metzger to the forefront of mainstream erotic films. The narrative is interesting and full of tricks. It uses flashbacks, pseudoflashbacks and multiple perspectives. Yes, it's a bit pretentious, but the plot keeps you watching. And how about that library scene? I laughed aloud when I saw it, being comfortably ensconsed in an apartment full of many books I haven't read either. Maybe what I need is a mistress to sweep everything away like that!!

It's a pretty adventurous movie, poised rather uneasily between constant arty inventiveness and a distinctly stilted coating of baroque overemphasis that, of course, makes due space for the porno calculations. From the very first scene of the family watching the dirty movies, heard initially as disembodied heads in darkness, there's an obvious hankering after seriousness, and the astonishment is that this ambition never becomes utterly foolish. It's quite a provocative film, and would likely not seem so dated with warmer, more nuanced actors, a less obviously titillating style, and without the unfortunate montages of running through the fields and suchlike to the accompaniment of gooey sixties music. There's ultimately no real revelation though, despite the constant return to doubling and echoing and evocation of the odd relationship between art and life, but it gives the feeling of having been intuitively (more than intellectually) shaped and prodded into something quite coherent. The highly designed library sex scene hardly fits but is memorable in its own right.

Opening with a quote by Luigi Pirandello regarding the elusive and illusory nature of reality, Radley Metzger's 1970 soft-core, art-house offering, "The Lickerish Quartet," is indeed one mind-twisting film. In it, a stepfather, wife and son watch a stag film one night in their sumptuous castle, and later go to a carnival and see a motorcycle stunt performance. They bring home the beautiful blond cycler, who bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the hotties in that stag film, and she proceeds to seduce all three in turn. The end. But wait a minute...why is that stag film subtly altered now, and why do the family and the hotty start emulating the action IN that film? Apparently, Metzger & Co. have some comments they'd like to make regarding art imitating life, or life imitating art, or the mutability of reality, or how film alters our perception of truth, or how time plays tricks on memory. After two viewings, I'm still trying to figure the darn thing out. But the picture does provide other pleasures, besides its baffling themes. The four principals are all quite good, especially the gorgeous Silvana Venturelli as the blond (or is it brunette?) temptress. The location of the film, the Piccolomini Castle in Balsorano, Italy (also the location, BTW, of the 1965 Italian horror film "The Bloody Pit of Horror"), is equally gorgeous, and Enrico Sabbatini's set decor of the castle's chambers (especially that library!) is also a feast for the eyes. Perhaps best of all, Stephen Cipriani has provided a Morricone-like score for the film that is exceptionally beautiful, and certainly deserving of a soundtrack CD. This score is especially lovely when used as a backdrop for Silvana's prancing through a sunlit field. Still, "The Lickerish Quartet" remains a trippy head-scratcher, at best. Lines such as "Isn't everyone in movies?" and "Reality's hard" might clue in potential viewers to prepare themselves for one brow-furrowing evening....

'The Lickerish Quartet' is very much a product of the early 70s when the idea of mixing the art movie and soft core genres was in vogue. Radley Metzger created a fascinating albeit very pretentious pseudo-psychedelic mindbender which is quite unlike any other similar movie of this era. At times I was reminded a little of Jess Franco's 'Succubus', but 'The Lickerish Quartet' is truly a one-off. Metzger plays with time, with frequent cuts, flashbacks, flashforwards, and dream sequences, so by the end fantasy and reality are blurred, and everybody, including the audience, is no longer exactly sure what actually happened, and what didn't. Silvana Venturelli is beautiful and well cast as the mysterious "visitor", and Frank Wolff ('Cold Eyes Of Fear') stands out from the supporting cast, as the wealthy sophisticate who gets a lot more than he bargains for. This movie is a real treat for lovers of 60s and 70s "head" movies, and will appeal to fans of Jodorowsky and Bunuel as much as Franco or Jean Rollin. Highly recommended.