A middle-age man (Marcello Mastroanni) trapped in a loveless marriage with a cold, shrewish wife and pregnant teenage daughter meets a young university student (Natassia Kinski)who reminds him of a lover he had twenty years earlier. Turns out there's a good reason for this--she is the daughter of his now dead lover. The problem is, since her paternity is very uncertain, she might be his own daughter as well! Thus you have the hilarious spectacle of Mastroanni trying to unsuccessfully resist a very ripe and beautiful Kinski.
This is the kind of movie that would have been crass and tasteless if made in America, but being set in Europe is merely quaint and corny (mostly due to the English dubbing). It resembles other European films like "Appassionata" and "Beau Pere", but might be a little more palatable since the man is at best only biologically the girl's father and the girl (and more importantly the actress playing her) is at least not an underage Lolita. It also resembles a lighter-toned "Last Tango in Paris" in that it has a lot of strange sex scenes, some of which might be pretty erotic (Mastroanni biting Kinski's beauteous bare rump) while others are pretty silly (Kinski serving Mastroanni a cup of her "pee-pee").
Most people then and now will probably see this film for Kinski's copious nude scenes. Keep in mind though they are not very well-paced--she spends the first half of the movie dressed and the second half almost perpetually naked. To tide you over though you also have the beautiful Ana Peironi (the "Mother of Tears" in Dario Argento's "Inferno", who really does make one want to cry) playing Kinski's promiscuous roommate. She has one of the funniest scenes where she strips off all her clothes in front of Mastroanni seconds after meeting him, all the while casually telling him how she doesn't like to sleep at the train station because of all "the horny men". (Well, no wonder!). Not for all tastes perhaps, but definitely recommended to fans of "Eurotica".
This is the kind of movie that would have been crass and tasteless if made in America, but being set in Europe is merely quaint and corny (mostly due to the English dubbing). It resembles other European films like "Appassionata" and "Beau Pere", but might be a little more palatable since the man is at best only biologically the girl's father and the girl (and more importantly the actress playing her) is at least not an underage Lolita. It also resembles a lighter-toned "Last Tango in Paris" in that it has a lot of strange sex scenes, some of which might be pretty erotic (Mastroanni biting Kinski's beauteous bare rump) while others are pretty silly (Kinski serving Mastroanni a cup of her "pee-pee").
Most people then and now will probably see this film for Kinski's copious nude scenes. Keep in mind though they are not very well-paced--she spends the first half of the movie dressed and the second half almost perpetually naked. To tide you over though you also have the beautiful Ana Peironi (the "Mother of Tears" in Dario Argento's "Inferno", who really does make one want to cry) playing Kinski's promiscuous roommate. She has one of the funniest scenes where she strips off all her clothes in front of Mastroanni seconds after meeting him, all the while casually telling him how she doesn't like to sleep at the train station because of all "the horny men". (Well, no wonder!). Not for all tastes perhaps, but definitely recommended to fans of "Eurotica".