Reviews (1)

something completely diferent
Say goodbye to your preconceived ideas and cherished vignettes of the female of the species! -- Monika Treut has put together a fascinating and enlightening view of females born, and made, that challenges our hearts and minds. There is a power and breadth of female experience here that is shocking and touching and deeply thought provoking. But you have to let yourself watch and listen-- don't write off any of these women before she has a chance to tell her story -- there is something to be learned from each one! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Moving family drama, set in New York City art scene.
I took my first peek at this film when I saw that Annie Sprinkle -one of my heroines- played a supporting role. I had no expectations for the film as a whole, and was jazzed to find that this is a very good film all around.

The plot, in a nutshell:a woman who lives in New York City tries to put on a facade for her father, who has come from Germany to visit her. She leads a liberal lifestyle set in New York City's art scene, and wishes to give her father the impression that she is living a traditional American life. Her father, however, unintentionally gets acquainted and friendly with some of the artists who work and reside in his daughter's stomping grounds (especially cute subplot where he gets a major crush on Annie Sprinkle!). Without revealing the entire story, what results is a moving story about a daughter and father getting to understand and accept each other, learning that the generation gap isn't necessarily as wide as they first thought.

What I liked as much as the story itself is the environment the film is set in. The performance artists are portrayed with a depth that we see too little of in other media. I cannot boast that I know much about the performance art scene, nor have I made an effort to define "the average portrayal of a performance artist." But what I have happened across -by channel surfing or video renting- too often paints extreme pictures of contemporary artists. The pro often hands us a flawless genius and superior human being, the con shows us untalented buffoons who know nothing about true art. This film shows us people who believe in their craft, are quite empathic, but are human enough have prejudices and jealousies (one scene that comes to mind is when two women crudely stereotype the father as the ethnic-cleansing type based solely on the fact he is German)

Annie Sprinkle, the ultimate porn star turned ultimate sex guru, plays herself in this film. If you are an aficionado of Annie, check out this flick; she comes off as the sweet-hearted people-loving goddess we know and adore! She has enough screen time to fulfill your "Annie-Time," and I suspect that you will be just as pleased by the film as a whole.

A Landmark of Feminist Filmmaking
For people who are interested in women directors, this film is not to be missed. It is a stylish piece, full of mockery and subversion of artistic icons. The script and filmming are carefully crafted. Occasionally overdriven gender politics weakens the overall impact of the work; for this reason, I rate it under Gorris's more famous _Antonia's_Line_. But for artistic innovation, I think this film is actually more interesting. ... Read more

Description

Four leading and award-winning international filmmakers create a highly charged anthology of erotic short films told from a female point-of-view. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Looking for Lots of Celebrity Skin? Look Elsewhere
Priscilla Barnes of TV's "Three's Company" promoted this movie, saying something like, "I have a very daring nude lesbian scene..." Well, she is in the movie, and she plays a lesbian, but aside from a few kisses and caresses, the ladies don't do much. If the Priscilla footage is the only reason you want to see "Erotique," you will be disappointed.

The movie is four sex-related short films spliced together. The first one is about a phone-sex worker, and it's kind of dumb; the next is longer and set in Latin America on board a train, and it's even worse. Then there's "Taboo Parlor," starring Priscilla, and while the sex and nudity are too brief the itsy-bitsy movie itself is better than the first two. Finally, there's "Wonton Soup," a movie about a Chinese couple that's really well made.

But again, if Priscilla Barnes is the drawing card for you, save your money and buy a collectors' edition of 3/76 Penthouse, which features her as Pet of the Month.

Insufferably bad soft porn.
Yes, it's porn. Yes, it's SOFT porn. And, yes, it is very, very bad. There are many films out there that do sex and fantasy well, tell a story, and contain "ideas." Try, for example, "Lady Beware" or even "Crimes of Passion." The acting and writing in Erotique is, well, wanting. The scenarios (not just the phone sex story but ALL of them) is standard stuff pilfered from the pages of Penthouse Forum circa 1977. Been there, done that, don't care. An utter waste of money and time.

Majesty of hominism
I thank Leonard Maltin for standing up for the majesty of hominism and LOGOS in art, which is well-practiced and annealed innovation. Unnanealèd experimentation should remain in private, and not be hideously aired like dirty laundry. Thus had Leonard, with the light of modesty, abjured this aborted endeavor with a just and measured implacability.

A total tasteless video
Very dull and boring. Nothing but a complete turn off. One or two scenes started getting spicy and while it seemed that they could produce a 'start engine' condition, they abnormally terminated, without succeeding their point even at least. As for nude scenes... A schoolchildren suitable video. I do not seek exclusively for hard-core scenes. Erotic videos can be far more arousing, if well made,(e.g:Penthouse videos) without the sole need of them. I was totally dissapointed with this one. A total waste of time and money...

Good and funny look at sex in 90's
Agree with that other reviewer that Maltin can only understand Disney fare. This one is for art films lovers who also want to laugh. Rented it from NetFLix, liked it so much that I'm buying it from Amazon. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Sweet, smart, subversive, sexy
This film should be associated with the New German Cinema, as a late entry in that "genre," if you could call it a genre, before it dissipated. It shares a lot of concerns typical of said body of films, like the voyage to America in search of parentage and identity, which echoes films like Wenders' ALICE IN THE CITIES, say. It also is very self-conscious of its relationship to moviemaking itself, and borrows a Wizard-of-Oz motif, as I recall it, with out heroine being named Dorothy and San Fransisco being presented as a sort of gay Oz. Unlike most new German cinema, though, THE VIRGIN MACHINE was directed by a woman, Monika Treut, and is self-consciously (post-)feministic. The protagonist is female and its her mother she's looking for (as I recall) in coming to San Fransisco. She's also looking for a "cure for romantic love." The early half of the film shows both the attractive/repulsive aspects of relationships with men; the middle portion of the movie has her being shown entirely new ways of looking at sex on her trip to America, with the help of now-famous-erotica-editor Susie Bright (sporting a substantial dildo collection, which she describes in considerable detail). (The actress playing Dorothy is great at wide-eyed naive fascination with the episodes she encounters. I think she's Lottie Huber, the lead from ANITA, DANCES OF VICE, but I could be wrong). There is a hilarious lesbian strip bar sequence where the female dancer spoofs male sexuality in a way any man watching will also be able to get a kick out of. Dorothy meets one particular woman who promises to cure her forever of romantic love, whom, of course, she falls quickly for... Treut's feminism has always been pro-porn, pro-erotica, pro-sexual-playfulness, and she's also made films with Annie Sprinkle and interviewed Camille Paglia; the film ISN'T properly speaking erotica, however. It does HAVE its erotic aspects but I think viewers interested in feminism, sexual identity, German cinema, and so forth will find it more rewarding than viewers wanting to be turned on, be they male or female. Remember as you watch it that it was made in the 1980s, pre-Madonna, so to speak, so that its stance towards porn and sex and so forth was kind of refreshing, new, and controversial at the time; mainstream feminism then was still focused largely on the exploitation of women and tinged with anti-porn, even anti-sex, sentiments. Also note: though I think the black and white, independent-film aesthetic is quite pleasing to watch, this is NOT a big-budget, slick film with high production values. Don't expect anything of Hollywood here.

THE COVER IS THE BEST PART OF THIS VIDEO
The beginning leads you to believe she has had a relationship with a fat man and her half brother. Once she leaves Germany, in a feable search for her mother and love, the movie begins to gain the viewers interest. In San Francisco she hits the lesbian scene and is introduced to her first lesbian strip show....that in itself was amusing at best.Long story short, I am not sure what the actual point of this movie was. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Moving family drama, set in New York City art scene.
I took my first peek at this film when I saw that Annie Sprinkle -one of my heroines- played a supporting role. I had no expectations for the film as a whole, and was jazzed to find that this is a very good film all around.

The plot, in a nutshell:a woman who lives in New York City tries to put on a facade for her father, who has come from Germany to visit her. She leads a liberal lifestyle set in New York City's art scene, and wishes to give her father the impression that she is living a traditional American life. Her father, however, unintentionally gets acquainted and friendly with some of the artists who work and reside in his daughter's stomping grounds (especially cute subplot where he gets a major crush on Annie Sprinkle!). Without revealing the entire story, what results is a moving story about a daughter and father getting to understand and accept each other, learning that the generation gap isn't necessarily as wide as they first thought.

What I liked as much as the story itself is the environment the film is set in. The performance artists are portrayed with a depth that we see too little of in other media. I cannot boast that I know much about the performance art scene, nor have I made an effort to define "the average portrayal of a performance artist." But what I have happened across -by channel surfing or video renting- too often paints extreme pictures of contemporary artists. The pro often hands us a flawless genius and superior human being, the con shows us untalented buffoons who know nothing about true art. This film shows us people who believe in their craft, are quite empathic, but are human enough have prejudices and jealousies (one scene that comes to mind is when two women crudely stereotype the father as the ethnic-cleansing type based solely on the fact he is German)

Annie Sprinkle, the ultimate porn star turned ultimate sex guru, plays herself in this film. If you are an aficionado of Annie, check out this flick; she comes off as the sweet-hearted people-loving goddess we know and adore! She has enough screen time to fulfill your "Annie-Time," and I suspect that you will be just as pleased by the film as a whole.

A Landmark of Feminist Filmmaking
For people who are interested in women directors, this film is not to be missed. It is a stylish piece, full of mockery and subversion of artistic icons. The script and filmming are carefully crafted. Occasionally overdriven gender politics weakens the overall impact of the work; for this reason, I rate it under Gorris's more famous _Antonia's_Line_. But for artistic innovation, I think this film is actually more interesting. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Sweet, smart, subversive, sexy
This film should be associated with the New German Cinema, as a late entry in that "genre," if you could call it a genre, before it dissipated. It shares a lot of concerns typical of said body of films, like the voyage to America in search of parentage and identity, which echoes films like Wenders' ALICE IN THE CITIES, say. It also is very self-conscious of its relationship to moviemaking itself, and borrows a Wizard-of-Oz motif, as I recall it, with out heroine being named Dorothy and San Fransisco being presented as a sort of gay Oz. Unlike most new German cinema, though, THE VIRGIN MACHINE was directed by a woman, Monika Treut, and is self-consciously (post-)feministic. The protagonist is female and its her mother she's looking for (as I recall) in coming to San Fransisco. She's also looking for a "cure for romantic love." The early half of the film shows both the attractive/repulsive aspects of relationships with men; the middle portion of the movie has her being shown entirely new ways of looking at sex on her trip to America, with the help of now-famous-erotica-editor Susie Bright (sporting a substantial dildo collection, which she describes in considerable detail). (The actress playing Dorothy is great at wide-eyed naive fascination with the episodes she encounters. I think she's Lottie Huber, the lead from ANITA, DANCES OF VICE, but I could be wrong). There is a hilarious lesbian strip bar sequence where the female dancer spoofs male sexuality in a way any man watching will also be able to get a kick out of. Dorothy meets one particular woman who promises to cure her forever of romantic love, whom, of course, she falls quickly for... Treut's feminism has always been pro-porn, pro-erotica, pro-sexual-playfulness, and she's also made films with Annie Sprinkle and interviewed Camille Paglia; the film ISN'T properly speaking erotica, however. It does HAVE its erotic aspects but I think viewers interested in feminism, sexual identity, German cinema, and so forth will find it more rewarding than viewers wanting to be turned on, be they male or female. Remember as you watch it that it was made in the 1980s, pre-Madonna, so to speak, so that its stance towards porn and sex and so forth was kind of refreshing, new, and controversial at the time; mainstream feminism then was still focused largely on the exploitation of women and tinged with anti-porn, even anti-sex, sentiments. Also note: though I think the black and white, independent-film aesthetic is quite pleasing to watch, this is NOT a big-budget, slick film with high production values. Don't expect anything of Hollywood here.

THE COVER IS THE BEST PART OF THIS VIDEO
The beginning leads you to believe she has had a relationship with a fat man and her half brother. Once she leaves Germany, in a feable search for her mother and love, the movie begins to gain the viewers interest. In San Francisco she hits the lesbian scene and is introduced to her first lesbian strip show....that in itself was amusing at best.Long story short, I am not sure what the actual point of this movie was. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Female Domination
Mikesch and Treut's first film, Verfuhrung: Die Grausame Frau (Seduction: The Cruel Woman, 1985) was inspired by the novel Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Seduction examines the psychological aspects of sadism and masochism through the tale of Wanda (Mechthild Grossmann), a German lesbian dominatrix who runs a gallery where audiences pay for the privilege of watching her humiliate her slaves.

only for a select few
excellent cinematography, capturing the spirit of the subject. not a typical, story- line oriented film, only for those looking for a non-stereotypical, insightful portrait of the s&m scene. enlightening portrayal, dark theme.

Unoriented
I thought this video was disjointed and not oriented to any plot. Also the lighting was very dark and much of what was going on was unseeable.

intelligent
Probably one of the few interesting and intelligent movies ever done about SM. The actors are good, and the psicology of the characters is well defined and coherent with their involvement in the story.

The only problem is that the movie is a bit slow and sometimes boring, but still worth watching. ... Read more