Si douce, si perverse

I didn't know quite what to make of this. It was directed by Silvio Amado who is most famous for the sexy Italian giallo "Amuck". This movie isn't really stylistic, deliriously plotted, or violent enough to be a giallo, however. On the other hand, it's not exactly a serious drama either. It's definitely pretty sexy--Gloria Guida looks good naked and she is naked A LOT. And there's the usual gratuitous Italian lesbian scene between Guida's character and her stepmother-to-be(!)played by Dagmar Lassander. This movie kind of reminded me of the French film "L'Annee des medusas", but it's not nearly as well-photographed or deliciously nasty. If you really have a thing for barely-legal Italian starlets, gratuitous nudity, and gratuitous lesbianism, you might want to check this out. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Italian sex drama loaded with manipulation and mind games, in which bored spiteful heiress Angela (Gloria Guida) engineers the downfall of her new stepmother Irene (Dagmar Lassander). She initially uses her hippie gigolo boyfriend Sandro (Fred Robsham), who resembles a young Klaus Kinski, to attempt to seduce Irene. Angela then discovers a lesbian shadow in Irene's past and exploits in to the full by showering in front of her, showing her nudie pictures of her with other girls, and finally pouncing on her at the shorefront while Sandro takes polaroids. Angela has an attack of conscience later but Sandro doesn't, revealing the gory details to Irene before the devastating finale.

Gloria Guida was Miss Teenager in Italy in 1971 before she went on to specialize in frothy sex comedies or sleazy dramas like this, and preens, pouts and plots her way through the role like a continental Linda Hayden. In 1975 alone she was in over 7 films, including two more for prolific director Silvio Amadio, best remembered for the ultraviolent giallo Amuck (1973) with Barbara Bouchet and Farley Granger. But Euro-sleaze fans tend to agree her best role was in To Be Twenty (1977), a seedy piece of nihilism from director Fernando Di Leo.

Director Silvio Amadio, who made the interesting AMUCK (a.k.a. ALLA RICERA DEL PIACERE, 1971), concocted this similarly twisted melodrama. Although considerably less thrilling than AMUCK, SO YOUNG SO LOVELY SO VICIOUS offers mild frissons in its tale of a dangerously manipulative teenager who attempts to emotionally destroy her potential stepmother.

The teenager is Angela (Gloria Guida), a bored rich kid with a large chip on her shoulder. One day her daddy brings home bride-to-be Irene (Dagmar Lassander) and it is spite at first sight, as pouty brat Angela does everything she can think of to drive Irene away.

First, Angela enlists a boyfriend, Sandro, whose attempts to romance Irene in full view of the father do not work. Angela elects to spend time alone with Irene, and they form an uneasy alliance when the father goes off on a business trip.

Amadio has very little to work with in his script (which he co-wrote with Roberto Natale), although it is ironic that Irene is presented as a fairly mature, stoic character who is so gullible and easily undone by Angela.

In lieu of a gripping scenario, he makes maximum use of the lead actresses' beauty and a scenic, rocky Mediterranean coastline. Guida, in one of her first roles, looks stunning. However, she is not skilled enough to pull off some scenes, such as when Angela suffers a distressing attack of remorse after practically destroying Irene's life. Dagmar Lassander, though, is a far more accomplished actress, looks great, and adds a bit of depth to Irene. This despite Amadio's habit of subjecting her to a couple of truly embarrassing scenes (for example, the awkward lesbian encounter with Guida; and an over-directed scene in which Irene reacts to learning, finally, that Angela is out to get her).

A beautiful teenage girl, Angela, somehow pathologically loves her father, Dr.Batrucchi, so that she naturally hates his refined girl friend, Irene. And when the situation becomes worse partially because Irene herself is somehow problematic, Angela begins to obsessionally think about the indirect way of killing her... This Italian film is not exclusively so-called psychoanalytically oriented, still is at least psychoanalytically explainable one. The leading theme, or only one theme, of the film is so-called acting out, namely, regressive discharge of instinctual energy. Angela seems to have the typically adolescent addict to action, but the main problem is her acting out by its very nature has the forfeiture of her capacity of mastery.

Leaving that question, this film has no twisted element; ongoingness of its story is almost every film-lover can expect to be. In the last scene, as one can easily expect, something bad happens to one of the female characters, and then sudden rain pours over her. This rain becomes to be most impressive phenomenon this film has mainly because the very film almost unnecessarily stresses it. If one can think this is liquefaction of self-punishableness or something like that, (s)he can be satisfied. But one thinks this is simply unnatural or melodramatic, (s)he can be disappointed to a certain degree. As a whole, this film can be called Giallo only in the ambiguousness of the very word. At least this is not a typical Giallo.

My main reason for seeing this film was due to the fact that's directed by Silvio Amandio, the same man who directed the Giallo masterpiece 'Amuck', as well as the very nice 'Smile Before Death'. This film is often mistaken for a Giallo, but I knew it wasn't before I began watching it, so no disappointment there. All I really wanted from this film was an erotic extravaganza similar to the other two Amandio films that I'd seen, and when I looked at the plot description; it seemed as though I was going to get one. The plot focuses on a relationship between a daughter and her father's wife to be. This relationship is ripe for heinous sexual activity, and when you throw the daughter's 'not too clever, but sexually efficient' boyfriend into the mix; you know there's going to be a lot of nude scenes. Silvio Amandio obviously enjoys filming lesbian scenes, and may even be a bit of a pervert as all three films that I've seen from him have an astute lesbian angle...and that's certainly no bad thing. Anyway, the main plot focuses on the idea of the daughter trying to rid herself of her future step mother.

I've got to say that I absolutely loved the style of the film. It feels very seventies, and the central location; a beach setting looks gorgeous with its golden sand and crystal clear waters. It also provides the film with a distinct fantasy style, which might have gone well with the sex themes if they were more well done. The lead women are both your typically sexy Italians, but their scenes together aren't very tender and feel a little too rehearsed; strange coming from a man who shot possibly the best lesbian scene ever filmed in Amuck. Gloria Guida spends a lot of the film with little or no clothes on, which is nice as she has a great body; while Italian horror star Dagmar Lassander provides the film with a suitably sexy older woman performance. The plot isn't very deep, and it's clearly more of a premise for Amandio to shoot sex scenes from. This isn't a big problem; however, as the film is mostly interesting all the way through and while there's no violence or gore, the central character does impose a rather vicious screen presence. It's easy to feel sorry for Dagmar Lassander's character by the end, although the ending itself left me rather cold. Overall, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to find this film; but it's certainly not bad.