Love Scenes is a remnant from the older days of "late night
cable." It's a softcore sex film originally made for the Playboy network, and
virtually unseen since its cable days. (It will come to DVD for the first time
on Jan 30, 2007.)
It actually has a fairly interesting plot, which is not such a
common thing in the world of softcore. A director has optioned a racy
biographical script written by a retired actress. His producer tells him he has
two choices: (1) make the film as a cheapie, or (2) hire his own famous wife to
play the
lead. Since the wife is an established star, her name recognition will attract backers. The director, being an ambitious fellow, is not
opposed to directing his wife in sex scenes, but the wife really doesn't go for
the idea at all. She's never done any nudity at all, let alone with her husband
directing.
She finally agrees to take the part, but there's a twist. The
script is about an actress who's married to a nice man who's a dud in the sack.
The character eventually leaves her husband for a stud-muffin. The wife/actress
playing that character is in the exact
same position in her own life. She's never had an orgasm because her director/ husband doesn't
make much of an effort in the bedroom, although he is a great guy in general. Her co-star is an
arrogant jerk, but a major stud. On the first day of shooting, she gets so
carried away that she actually climaxes in a sex scene. The husband thinks this
is great acting, and wants her to keep up the good work! As the script develops,
the character's plight and the actress's plight stay in parallel, and the
director/husband stays completely clueless until the end.
In addition to a reasonably good plot, the film also has some
interesting character actors in the supporting roles. Fast-talking comic Jack
Carter plays the producer. Britt Ekland plays a lesbian photographer. Statuesque
Julie Newmar plays the retired actress who wrote the script, and she plays her
scenes in heels so high she looks like that guy who played the giant in Big
Fish, especially compared to petite Tiffany Bolling, who plays the lead. (See
picture below.)
Bolling herself was an interesting casting choice. She had been
a staple of the drive-in features of the seventies, but hadn't worked very much
at all between 1978 and 1983, playing only a couple of small roles in that
period. She hadn't
had a leading role or done a nude scene in the seven years prior to being cast
in Love Scenes, so this was a comeback for her at age 38.
Of course, those elements are just window dressing in an
erotic film. They are nice to have, but ultimately we do not watch softcore sex films
for the interesting casting or the subtle plotting. It is in the erotic elements where
this film falters. I'm not an expert in this genre, but I know the
film's erotica left me cold. Most of the nudity is done by Tiffany Bolling, and
she was at the time a rather ordinary-looking 38-year-old woman performing in
sex scenes which were neither original nor skillfully filmed. She did several
full-frontal scenes, including one skinny-dipping scene in excellent light, but
her body was unexceptional, and she was never photographed from the rear at any
time, not even from an angle. There's not a hint of her behind in the entire film,
for reasons we can only guess at.
Three other members of the cast did full-frontal nudity as well,
although two of the scenes are too dark to be considered significant nudity. All three actresses are uncredited, but
one of them, Monique Gabrielle, needs no official credit to be recognized by
fans of screen nudity. The other two
actresses remain unknown to me. There are also several extras naked in an orgy scene from
the film-within-a-film.
Britt Ekland remained clothed throughout the film. Given that
fact, I'm not really sure why she was hired for this role at all. Certainly not
for her Shakespearian line readings. I don't know
what she did with her spare time back in the days when she was the "girlfriend
to the stars," but I'll give you odds she wasn't hanging around The Actor's
Studio.
It's not a great DVD. The transfer is full screen. That in
itself is not a problem because that's probably how Love Scenes was filmed for cable, but
the problem is that the print hasn't been cleaned up or remastered, and there
are no features of any kind. We're always happy to see a lost sheep found,
so it's a pleasure to see this forgotten film finally make it to DVD from the
"private screening collection," but it's not a disc to stand in line for.
This is nothing more than a barely watchable softcore sex film brought to DVD in
an uninspired transfer. Given a pretty good script and some interesting casting in the minor
roles, this might have been a softcore masterpiece, but in order to get there it
would have needed a younger, sexier star and a few more light bulbs. On the
other hand, if you are a Tiffany Bolling fan, this is your Casablanca.
