Piaceri erotici di una signora bene

Shining Sex (1977)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Science-fiction fun from the Spanish director has a stripper (Lina Romay) taken home by two aliens (Evelyne Scott, Monica Swinn) who seduce her and then rub some type of lotion onto her private areas. This lotion turns the stripper into a brain dead slave who can kill anyone she sleeps with once they put their thing into her private areas. This is certainly one of Franco's strangest films but sadly it's doesn't go as wild as the story itself. The film runs 80-minutes and the actually killing doesn't start until the final twenty-minutes, which is a shame because the story could have led to some great fun in that ol' so sleazy Jess Franco way. There's still some great stuff here including a twenty-minute silent segment where Romay gets seduced and turned into the killing machine. The lesbian sex scene here is quite erotic and Franco does a great job with the cinematography, although the zoom function goes a tad bit overboard. Romay is very good in her role and I personally think she never looked better than this period here. She's naked throughout the entire movie so this here is another major plus. I had to watch the film in French without any English subs so I'm not sure what all I missed in the dialogue but the film is very easy to follow without the subs. Franco himself turns in a fun performance as a doctor who knows what the aliens are doing. Franco would remake this in 1986 as Sida, la peste del siglo XX but a copy of this film has never turned up. In the remake, instead of an alien virus causing the deaths it's AIDS that is being spread around to kill. God knows what one should expect from that subject matter considering the type of films Franco was doing around this time but one only hopes it will show up.

You wouldn't expect a Jess Franco Eurocine film called 'Shining Sex' to be a chaste affair - you might well feel cheated if it was. Within moments, Lina Romay, who features prominently in every sense of the word, treats a surprisingly well-to-do audience to a sexual striptease, as the camera swoops in in unforgiving close-ups on every mole, every goose bump. She's also a very cheerful prostitute, and her exhibitionism still turned up to 11, goes off with a mysterious couple for a threesome.

The throes of anguish/ecstasy that fill the next few scenes begin to get tiresome, when the first tendrils of a storyline begin to reach out; at last things become interesting. The couple, Alpha and Andros (Evelyne Scott and Raymond Hardy) are far more mysterious than they initially seem, and Cynthia's (Romay) writhing takes on a different meaning.

It's reassuring to see some familiar faces - the always excellent Monica Swinn as Madame Pécame and Olivier Mathot as Elmos Kallman - although Swinn's character is suitably weird and distant and *far* from reassuring. Franco himself also features as good old Dr. Seward, whose voice is dubbed by someone reaching for his inner Peter Lorre!

Romay is consistently wonderful in this. The transformation from her giggly, extroverted stripper, to seemingly emotionless pawn in the game being played, seems effortless and is highly convincing. Likewise, the shifting from sleazy 70s sex show to something quite different is very powerful - although there is always time for some graphically intimate shots of coupling. It's typically atypical in a Jess Franco film that features gratuitous amounts of female nudity and exploitation, that the female Alpha is fully in charge and Andros is very much her subordinate. An interesting wander into sci-fi territory for Uncle J. My score is 7 out of 10.

A voluptuous, faintly sinister pan-dimensional being, Alpha (Evelyn Scott) and her randy, taciturn, sunspex-sporting sex slave coerce luridly libidinous nightclub artiste, Cynthia (Lina Romay) into a wild, surrealistic, kaleidoscopically kooky, hyper-sexualized conspiracy! Mercurial muck maestro, Jesus Franco's arty, esoteric, glamorously glistering 80s Euro-smut remains a daringly explicit, stridently sensual, provocatively strange experience. Absurd, garish, and weirdly compelling, only those who are profoundly immoral could ever find fault with luxuriously luscious, Lina Romay's immaculately 'Shining Sex'. While episodic, and not especially refined, this arguably features one of, Lina Romay's most mesmerisingly uninhibited performances, her entrancingly provocative, Cynthia proves to be a scintillatingly sexual protagonist, and frequent Franco collaborator, Daniel White provides another exemplary score.

Jesús Franco's "Shining Sex" is a daring, explicit, and sensual journey into the realm of 70s Euro-erotica. It's a film that embraces its B-movie status, delivering a strange yet compelling experience. With a prominent focus on sex and the female form, this sci-fi offering is light on plot but heavy on skin, making it an acquired taste even for fans of the genre.

The film wastes no time in setting the tone, as actress Lina Romay, a frequent collaborator of Franco's, treats viewers to a sexual striptease within the first few moments. The camera work is intimate and unflinching, leaving nothing to the imagination. This opening scene sets the precedent for the rest of the film, which continues to push the boundaries of what was acceptable on screen at the time.

While the film is marketed as a sci-fi offering, the science fiction elements are barely noticeable and often ludicrous. They serve more as a backdrop to showcase the erotic antics of the characters than as a driving force for the narrative. The plot is sparse and often takes a backseat to the explicit content, with the film feeling more like a series of sexual set pieces than a cohesive story.

That being said, there is a certain charm to the film's absurdity. It embraces its low-budget roots and leans into the bizarre, creating a unique and memorable experience. Romay's performance is confident and bold, carrying the film with her sultry screen presence.

However, the lack of a substantial narrative and the overreliance on sexual content may leave viewers feeling cheated, especially those expecting a more traditional sci-fi experience. The film's pacing is also an issue, with the plot meandering and failing to build towards a satisfying conclusion.

In conclusion, "Shining Sex" is a film that caters to a very specific taste. It's a daring, explicit, and sensual experience that pushes the boundaries of what was acceptable in cinema at the time. However, the lack of a compelling narrative and the driftless nature of the film may leave viewers feeling bored and unsatisfied.