Sweet and naive, but sultry and alluring peasant girl Angelique (a fabulously fiery performance by the luscious Arlene Farber) gets a job working as a maid for suave rich shipping tycoon Count Orestes Medici (a solid turn by Vassili Lambrinos). Angelique becomes involved in a strange and decadent love triangle with the Count, his lusty mistress Francesca (lovely Jeanne D'Arey), and the Count's smoothie sleazeball playboy son Alain (a perfectly smug Andre Landzaat). Director Jerry Gross and screenwriters Octavio Bellini and Marcelo Lazarino scrupulously cover all the pleasingly racy bases: we've got a generous sprinkling of nudity (Farber in particular looks smoking hot sans clothes), attempted rape, a few sizzling soft-core sex scenes, lesbianism, voyeurism, skinny-dipping, pot smoking, an awesomely heady psychedelic acid trip set piece (dig that furiously burning fuzztone guitar, baby!), a debauched orgy on a yacht, and authentically groovy swingin' nightclub footage complete with a cool band and go-go dancing (Farber strips down to her underwear and busts some tasty moves). Moreover, Gross relates the engrossingly lurid and melodramatic plot at a steady pace and makes the most out of the exotic Puerto Rico locations. Best of all, Farber positively burns up the screen with her smolderingly sensuous presence and insanely yummy body. George Zimmermann's sumptuous widescreen cinematography, Clay Pitts' bouncy'n'jazzy Latino score, and the genuinely sad and heart-breaking surprise downbeat ending all further enhance the considerable risqué fun of this entertainingly tawdry item.
Review of Female Animal
