Director Ruggero Deodato will forever and ever remain famous, infamous and worshiped (at least amongst a selected number of avid cult fanatics) because he was the creator of the ultimate exploitation classic "Cannibal Holocaust". But several years prior to delivering that classic – as well as several other horror/trash/cult highlights – he was also responsible for an entirely different type of "flesh feast". The peculiar "Waves of Lust" is a drama/thriller primarily thriving on sexual atmosphere and the unpredictability of the characters' personas. The film doesn't contain much graphic violence or on-screen perversion, but it's continuously ominous and bizarre, which is a remarkable accomplishment on itself. Barbara and Irem, a young and extremely liberated couple, are hanging around the touristy Sicilian coast when they meet up with the unhappily married couple Giorgio and Silvia. Giorgio is a power-mad and obnoxious industrialist who pretty much downgraded his wife Silvia to a slave whom he can mistreat and humiliate whenever he wants and as much as he wants. The two couples head out for a trip aboard Giorgio's yacht, and naturally the sexual intrigues blow through the roof. Giorgio wants to sleep with Barbara, and assumes that he can, but at the same time he doesn't like that Irem takes an interest in his own wife. Barbara particularly enjoys teasing Giorgio and she also doesn't mind evoking a bit of lesbian passion with Silvia. The situation quickly escalates into a gritty web of deceit, alcohol abuse (a lot of alcohol abuse) and attempted murder. Deodato makes terrific use of the isolated yacht setting and the versatility of his four-headed cast, while the screenplay (co-written by Lamberto Bava) contains several great dialogs and clever twists. Unfortunately, however, "Waves of Lust" is overall very slow-moving, often boring and too heavily focusing on the full-frontal nudity of the two lead actresses instead of on some of the potentially interesting sub plots (like, for example, the collapsing of Giorgio's business empire). The film is so boring sometimes that I deeply desired to join Giorgio in drinking copious amounts of J&B Whisky. Believe me, his J&B consumption in this story is enough to cause spontaneous cirrhosis of the liver, as literally his entire yacht is stuffed with whiskey bottles. The soundtrack is downright fabulous, as the case with most Italian movies from the seventies, and the acting performances are the prime reason why "Waves of Lust" remains compelling until the climax. Lead vixen Silvia Dionisio was married to director Ruggero Deodato at the time, but he clearly didn't object sharing his spouse's most intimate body parts with the rest of the world. And what a lucky bastard he was!
Review of Waves of Lust
