La fille du milliardaire

THE BILLIONAIRE'S DAUGHTER is a silk purse hiding in plain sight (on a video shelf or in a product line ad) among sow's ears, by far the best of French pornographer Marc Dorcel's vast recent output drawn not from his usual French stable but far afield sources in California, England and Eastern Europe. It's really a British porn film but like the lion's share of made-in-Blighty features of late it masquerades under a foreign flag.

Director/cameraman Dick Bush, who had the chutzpah to steal the name from the brilliant cinematographer of many a Ken Russell beauty in the '60s and '70s - probably only because in retrospect it sounds dirty, has done a fine job of creating a light-hearted contemporary tale that is amusing to watch while simultaneously arousing due to talented femmes in the cast.

It makes fun of media magnates and their celebrity hijinks, which are the 21st Century's answer to what we used to call, with much love/hate, the Jet Set. Rebecca More is quite imperial, when not getting down and dirty, as Patricia Castle, owner of a major British newspaper and running a satellite TV network which has the distinction of stressing wholesome programming and family values. (Right there you see how Bush has departed from what one would expect to be a mocking of Rupert Murdoch).

Fly in her ointment is frisky daughter Lana, delightfully played by Sienna Day in uninhibited fashion. In fact the entire screenplay (uncredited, even though it is far better than most out there recently) could easily have made for a glamorous, foreign-set Hollywood rom-com of the late '50s, only Bush's version is populated by huge-breasted women having XXX sex, and loving it.

Various plot complications are actually interesting, not mere filler between sex scenes. Lana ends up turning over the wholesome applecart with her escapades, culminating in her live pay-per-view threesome sex cast opposite the most beautiful of Dorcel's actresses, Anissa Kate, and ebullient European porn star Michael Angelo. The resulting fall-out has Patricia backing down and letting the disowned black sheep Lana back into the family, and turning to her as a role model for sexual content in her broadcasting schedule.

Also a literal standout, as Lana's "good girl" (these things are strictly relative, not absolute designations) sister, is Emma Leigh who I place near the very top of British talent these days, though she seems to be short-changed in terms of fame and billing.

If Dorcel would latch onto product of this caliber, and throw some of his less talented acquisitions (like another Brit, Kendo) back into the ocean I think his slipping stature could be repaired.