Monamour

Watching people behave with sex only on their minds without any care for social norms at all. You will find no class or style in this movie. Another tit and bum factory piece of work. The musical scores were as bland and the many empty sets and settings. It is in fact an old mans wet dream acted out by middle aged actors that lacked any passion at all, which is what the movie tries to sell and does so very poorly. It's just smut.

I watched this with my girlfriend. We've never seen a Tinto Brass movie before and just stumbled over this one at the local video store. At the backside of the cover it says "erotic-thriller" by a "cultdirector". And as we like both (erotic and thriller), we decided to give it a try.

It wasn't anything like we expected. My girlfriend hated it because of the awful sex-scenes. There was no erotic, no thriller and no plot at all, just a poor actress committed to an old mans chauvinistic fantasies. Men don't talk in this movie, the only grab the poor actress's ass, pussy or tits, which is followed by sudden sexual intercourse. And women only talk about the size of penises and the need to have sex again. This movie fells like it has been written in 2 hours after watching a porn-movie.

I'm pretty sure this was our first and last Tinto Brass 'cultmovie'-experience.

If you've never seen a Tinto Brass movie, this is not a good place to start. Tinto is at his best when he's not taking himself seriously, and in Monamour he attempts some sort of depth that he just can't pull off. What's worse, the plot feels like a recycled version of one of his better films - 1992's Cosi fan Tutte - but with all the wrong choices made; Cosi fan Tutte was light-hearted and featured a strong female lead in Claudia Koll, who was in charge of her own fate the whole time; the lead in Monamour is a despicable and unlikable character who succumbs to the will of men around her. While the two characters end up having similar journeys, the viewer just can't forgive Monamour's Marta as he did Diana from Cosi fon tutte. And the fact that the movie takes itself so seriously makes the erotica disturbing and off-putting, unlike the playfulness in Cosi fon Tutte.

Monamour has good cinematography and some well-shot sex scenes which are both a given with Tinto, but the sex is more disturbing than it is enticing. While Cosi fon Tutte was almost feminist (sort of) and is lots of fun for a couple to watch together, Monamour feels more like a horny old man's fantasy, and it just doesn't work.

I watched a poorly dubbed version of what could be described as a soft porn type movie, and honestly, I kind of enjoyed it. The bad dubbing made the dialogue so awkward and nonsensical that it became unintentionally hilarious. The voice acting was completely off, and the lines often didn't make any sense in the context of the scenes, which only added to the fun. It felt like a comedy at times, as the mismatched voices and strange dialogue choices created some laugh-out-loud moments. While the plot itself wasn't anything special, the bad dub definitely gave it an amusing twist, turning what could've been a forgettable film into something more entertaining.

It is an erotic and sensuous play around a very sexual woman who doesn't get it enough from her husband. Don't expect any semblance of real lifeism, expression of feelings and so on. Its a Tinto movie! Well, it is actually more of Anna Jimskaia's flick than Tinto's. She is a feast to watch, especially when she appears sans clothes or is in revealing attire which she is a lot many times throughout the film. Some of the clothes she wears are so "Tinto"! It is a film, a B-movie to be specific (its not a porn film) with a story and a script.

But it feels like a remix of the director's older movies. It tries to play out suggestive sexuality but in a way, it stops short of it. The psychological surge of sensuality and kink that is a characteristic of Tinto is there but is not as strong in his other films like The Voyeur. That is why feels like there is nothing much in the way of the movie. The performances of the cast could have been stronger but it is the relative weakness of script has played its part in the not-that-strong characterization of the cast.

It a turn-you-on movie. Nothing much but I like it the way it is. Worth watching just for every scene of Anna Jimskaia and the camera that's on to her!