Fantasmes sauvages

Rented this one expecting it to be some throwaway "bachelor weekend" trash, but was amazed at how deeply the script delved into the couple's marital problems. The beautiful Jennifer Sommerfield also brought more than a couple of dimensions to what could have been a cliche hooker role. The last line of the movie--read from a letter written by her character--was actually quite moving. This movie was undoubtedly marketed as a low-budget titillation feature, but it's much more mature than that.

Course, there are some pretty hot scenes in it, too.

Joe Goodman (Kristoffer Tabori) is a successful owner of a gallery, alcoholic but sober for eight years and going to AA meetings, married with Rita (Jane Kacsmarek) and with a teenager daughter, Samantha (Rachel Crane). In a bachelor party of a close friend hosted in his gallery, he meets the sexy hooker Wendy (Jennifer Sommerfield). He has a crushing on her and gets a close contact with her, being seduced and sharing fantasies of sadomasochism with her. He becomes divided between the love for Rita and the lust and desire for Wendy.

"Wildly Available" is a surprisingly great erotic tale, approaching themes like middle-age crisis, sexual fantasies, frustration, lust, love and desire. The greatest negative remark is the option for a conservative end of the story since an amoral end would fit better. The cast has a great performance and even the erotic scenes are sensual, never vulgar. Jennifer Sommerfield is a beautiful and charming actress, and is perfect in the role of a prostitute. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): 'Desejos Selvagens' ('Wild Desires')

while well acted and edited, there is little else to recommend this movie. The wife is the strongest character but there is not enough individuality or depth to her or her husband or the other woman to fully involve the viewer. I used my fast forward button often.

Kristoffer Tabori whose career easily could have taken the path of teen idol back in his salad days got his first notice with the randy teen sex comedy Making It. Fortunately he was better than all of that and has lasted in the profession because of it.

So it must have been a bit of nostalgia that made him want to try another film about sex almost thirty years after Making It. Wildly Available casts Tabori as an ostensibly happily married art gallery owner with wife Jane Kacmarek and daughter Suzanne Crane. Tabori is a recovering alcoholic so he has an addictive personality.

So something is triggered in him when he sees the wildly erotic Jennifer Sommerfield at a stag party for one of his colleagues. Some bad and crude behavior by one of the guests, an occupational hazard for that profession, sends Sommerfield storming off. Tabori follows and he just becomes obsessed with her.

Much as I like Kristoffer Tabori's work on the big and small screen, I never really could get into the characters here. Face it, he's a guy who just wants it all, family, gallery, and mistress. She's a dominatrix by trade and the two of them have that kind of relationship with each being the dominant one at different intervals.

Some have compared Wildly Available with The Last Tango In Paris, but I didn't like The Last Tango In Paris and wasn't crazy about Wildly Available.

I liked this movie because it was a well balanced portrayal of infidelity and how it affected the lives of the three people involved - the husband, wife and mistress. Joe, the husband, becomes infatuated with a young girl who works as being a dominant female bondage mistress - disciplining men for a fee. Joe becomes obsessed with her and even takes her to New York with him on a business trip. Yet, Joe still loves his wife who he's been married to for 18 years, and his 10 year old daughter. The mistress only wants Joe if he breaks cleanly from his wife. Joe and the mistress struggle with this dilemma for a large part of the movie.

The movie describes well the emotions experienced by all three people, yet the ending is weak and too conventional. But probably truer to life than "romantics" would want to believe.

The acting is adequate, not great, but not bad either. Length is about right and there are no long drawn out parts - the movie moves along at a good pace. There is considerable nudity and sex play, but it is done in a tasteful way and well related to the theme of the movie.

Recommend seeing it.