Artemesia

With its superb Raylene performance in the title role, wonderful costumes, styling and scenery, PT's forgotten "Artemesia" is in need of a revival to show fans what Adult Cinema can (and used to) aspire to in terms of erotic entertainment. It was made in a glorious age at the turn of this century when Adam & Eve, Wicked, Sin City and Vivid were routinely cranking out quality features, soon to disappear in a morass of gonzo junk.

I saw the European film theatrically back in the day and like PT's XXX movie it is entertaining without being a history lesson. This tale of a burgeoning artist in an era when women were relegated to subsidiary roles is well-acted by Raylene, and significantly she is uber-sexy in or out of her period costumes.

PT shot the film entirely in Southern California, yet it consistently evokes a period European flavor. Femme casting is expert, with both familiar beauties (Lola and Melissa Hill) and stunning naturals less widely-exposed (Vivian Valentine and many others) all providing great eye appeal shot with 35mm cameras instead of crappy video.

Male actors are not up to snuff however, the main detraction from the film's possible classic status. Bobby Vitale in the lead heavy role of chauvinist artist Tassi gives a flat performance - I don't like his work at all but he was nonetheless cast in many of PT's and other serious filmmakers' projects for reasons not apparent in the final results. NonSex roles such as that of Ray's artist father/mentor are similarly given wooden treatments, and the usually impressive Devin Wolf is 1- dimensional as another creep working against Ray's interests.

Many scenes staged on a rocky beach are utterly beautiful and PT manages to capture a feel for nature one doesn't associate with explicit sex films. The sets used for her father's art studio look convincingly like a previous century and Maryanne Hartley's wardrobe and art direction are flawless.

But the show belongs to Raylene, an actress who has had at least two careers in Adult (with a break in between) and is a true screen goddess in her incarnation as Artemesia.

There've been many (oh so many) adult films that parodied mainstream films, but this is probably the most unlikely example of the sub-genre. Inspired, apparently, by the 1997 French film of the same title, it tells a romanticized (and in this case eroticized) version of the early life of Artemisia Gentileschi, portrayed by Raylene (real name Stacy Bernstein) and her romance with Agostino Tassi (in this version, Bobby Vitale.)

There's just one little problem with both films. Artemisia didn't have a romance with Tassi. She was raped by him. In both the original and in this adult remake, this rape is presented as a loving relationship that is portrayed as a rape to save face. Of course, the adult film goes further than that, portraying Artemisia as, in fact, the promiscuous girl that Tassi attempted to paint her (sorry) in his trial. (She gives a blowjob to an artist's model, portrayed by Julian, and has a lesbian interlude with her maid, the lovely Blair Segal. While in the former she could be argued to be saving her virginity for her future husband, the vigorous use of a dildo in the latter puts paid to that notion ...)

While I'm dismayed by the film's plagiarism of its source material and its disrespect for history, I have to admit that its erotic sequences are very hot. In particular there's an extended orgy scene in the middle of the film that almost makes up for the shoddiness of the rest of it. On the other hand, one of its first sequences begins outside as two of the models begin to passionately embrace and then abruptly cuts to the rest of the scene taking place indoors, then cuts back to show "Artemisia" picking up clothing that was dropped in the scene. (Presumably, the wind made the performers too cold to continue and they headed indoors.)