À l'aventure

Stuart:

This borderline ridiculous film hails from France and is directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau, who apparently has a penchant for the voyeuristic and erotic.

When Sandrine happens upon a philosophising old man on her lunch break she decides that her life is prime for upheaval. The next day she hooks up with a man whom she meets in a café, then comes home to tell her fiancé about it. Unsurprisingly, the fiancé leaves and she begins a journey of sexual discovery with this new man and his friends. It's never really clear what Sandrine hopes to achieve. After being engaged for six years(!), the humdrum of everyday life was apparently getting to her. I would have expected her to pack up and travel the world, but - for better or worse - it seems to only be about sex.

À l'aventure is very explicit, though in an appallingly sexist fashion we only see female nudity. I mean head to toe female nudity, and not even one male bottom. It's strange to say the least, and contributes to a general soft core porn atmosphere. The pattern is established pretty early on: people sitting around talking... people having sex... people sitting around talking... people having sex. It's frequently amusing wondering just how the lightweight philosophical conversation is going to turn to boinking, as it invariably does.

Aside from female orgies in modern day castle surrounds, this film has little to offer. Sandrine's new man Greg is a hypnotist, which leads to the best scenes in the film. The most eerie moment occurs when one of the characters enters a trance only to relive a forgotten experience from the time she spent in a nunnery. Rather than distract us with a showy flashback, Brisseau instead keeps the camera on the actress, making for one hell of a scene. Of course, we soon get back to the sex after that, but it does mean that the film offers that teensy bit more than your average erotic thriller.

À l'aventure is a mildly entertaining if ultimately silly outing, though entertaining enough as far as 'mystical orgy' films go.

Mark: