Femme (1984) (V)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Candida Royalle

Writer:

Candida Royalle (writer)

Genre:

Adult

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Hardcore

Cast

Rhonda Jo Petty
Jerry Butler	...	Photographer
Tish Ambrose
Michael Knight
Sharon Kane
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carol Cross
Klaus Multia
George Payne
David Sandler		(as David Israel Sandler)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:X

Company:

Femme Productions

Royalle's directorial debut is worth a look

This was porn-actress-turned-writer/director Candida Royalle's debut. It (as well as its sequel, "Urban Heat") is a collection of six sex scenes set to original music with almost no dialogue. Unlike most of what would commonly be considered "pornography for men," Royalle doesn't rely on extreme, graphic close-ups of intercourse and other forms of penetration to arouse. This is one reason she's my favorite adult-film director. I find close-ups distracting and boring, and the unnatural positions usually required to enable filming of them are a turn-off for me.

With only exceedingly rare exceptions, you'll find no such close-ups in any of Royalle's work. And in "Femme," you'll find none whatsoever. Royalle goes more for atmosphere here, both in the settings she chooses for her scenes, and in the scenes' participants themselves, who sure look like they're having a good time. For me personally, that's what I look for in porno. I want to believe the actors and having sex and enjoying it -- not that they're just going through certain motions so the cameraman can get the right shot of the shot (shots that, incidentally, don't exist here or in Royalle's work generally -- another plus for me, as I find most facial shots to be poorly done and unerotic, though there are some exceptions).

The real standout scenes for me in "Femme" are 3 and 6. These are the two scenes with Carol Cross, who for some reason isn't credited on the IMDB page for this movie (as of this writing). Royalle herself has said that her favorite scene was 3, because of its relative conceptual uniqueness in the the world of adult film. It's a scene with two guys and one girl (Cross), but instead the woman being there to satisfy the two men, the two men are there to satisfy the woman.

The buildup in this scene is incredible. The three people -- strangers -- are admiring paintings in the corner of an art gallery. I won't say anything more about this scene, because it's really something you need to watch with no prior knowledge to appreciate its incredible eroticism. But whatever you do, do NOT fast-forward through any part of this scene. Make sure you watch it from start to finish, with no interruption if you can. If you don't, you'll miss the erotic build-up to a highly charged, super-hot scene. Part of the reason the actual sex is so hot is because of the work done by Royalle to build up to it, but the sex itself stands pretty well on its own too.

As I said, scene 6 is quite hot too -- the second-best in the movie, I think. Carol Cross just exudes heat. Scene 2 is decent, with some fine moments. The other scenes are okay. They're certainly watchable, and you may find a thrill or two in them. But the real reason to watch "Femme" is Carol Cross, and especially the blistering third scene. However, if you're really into explicit shots of penetration, and women with lots of silicone, you should avoid "Femme." You'll be disappointed. But if want a more realistic approach to "the act," you should like this film. Finally, note that "Femme" was shot on video, which some people may hate (although most harder porn has been shot on video instead of film for about two decades now, so anyone who's interested in this genre is probably used to it).

"Femme" is not Royalle's best work overall (I think "Eyes of Desire" is), but it's still quite good, and definitely worth watching. I give it *** (out of ****).