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Review: The Tale of Tiffany Lust (1981)




Tags: Radley MetzgerHenry ParisGérard KikoïneDominique Saint ClaireVeronica HartDesiree CousteauVanessa del RioSamantha FoxGeorge Payne


Well-off housewife Tiffany (popular French actress Dominique Saint Claire) breaks away from her boring daily routine by arranging a date with prostitute Betty (the incomparable Veronica Hart), who attempts to teach her the ropes of lesbian sex before sending her on a day trip of sexual self-discovery. The starting point is the racy radio show hosted by Florence Nightingale (a hilarious performance by the legendary Vanessa Del Rio), who offers explicit advice (not to mention physical demonstrations) to her aroused studio audience. Imagining herself in a passionate embrace with the sex therapist, Tiffany loses her composure when it's her turn to be interviewed and leaves the studio embarrassed.
This "minor" classic from the Golden Age of adult cinema should have been re-evaluated long ago. Directed jointly by revered French porn filmmaker Gérard Kikoïne and accredited master Radley Metzger (AKA Henry Paris), it was casually dismissed by critics upon its initial release, but the truth is that it holds up as an interesting hybrid of its authors' wildly divergent styles: a mix of delicate elegance and dirty sex. Though the pacing sometimes falters a bit, there's some brilliantly witty dialogue courtesy of Metzger, a master of elegant comedy. The production is solid, with soft lighting and professional photography by Gérard Loubeau, a renowned director of erotic films.