Il massaggio dell'anima

Mimi Rogers has spectacular breasts. That's the only reason you'd watch this. It really is rather pointless. However, if you have some sort of obsession for female assets of huge proportions, watch it by all means.

The title "Full Body Massage" hints that this is a pornographic film, but it isn't. Erotic, yes, but not pornographic. The title refers not only to a full body massage, but to what is really a "full mind massage". I only wish my massuse had the skill and equipment the masseur had in this film!!

What thoughts would go through two strangers minds after initially bypassing the social preliminaries and going to intimate contact and then getting to know each other better? The intimation is that maybe they would like to take the relation further, but professional ethics require them to escape to the past, so as to almost avoid the present. The sexual tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

Roeg does his usually excellent job of mixing the erotic with the everyday and making it seem completely natural.

Nina (Mimi Rogers) is a tough art dealer and gallery owner. She is expecting her regular weekly massage from Douglas and is surprised by substitute Fitch (Bryan Brown). She's annoyed but accepted the unexpected change. He's a new age thinker with varying experiences like from the Hopi Indians. She's a driven single woman. They talk about their past relationships and philosophies as flashbacks are shown.

This is a long meandering conversation. It doesn't really move anywhere. There isn't a narrative or a plot. It's simply two characters talking about their lives. For some people, the biggest point is a naked Mimi Rogers. Otherwise, it's hard to see any point to this. The production is more late-night erotica than an artistic journey. I would have liked stories that are less philosophical and more compelling.

A gallery owner is surprised when her home masseur sends a replacement, from whom she receives intellectual and spiritual, rather than sensual, treatment. Essentially a long conversation about art, life and relationships, broken up with the director's customarily intriguing montage, and in which the star bravely exposes herself physically as well as emotionally. Compelling viewing.