The Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha

In early 20th century Germany, an isolated school raises girls from babies. It's run by the headmistress (Jacqueline Bisset) and financed by a wealthy prince. The girls learn music and dance but they know nothing about the outside world. The school is slated to be closed. Hidalla, Irene, Vera, Blanka, Melusine and Rain are in the oldest class. They name the local waterfall Mine Ha-Ha. The insular world is revealed to be stranger and stranger. Irene and Hidalla start a hesitant love affair. Everyone is competing to be the rose for the ballet which is to be attended by the prince. Vera is killed and the girls try to escape which only leads to another death.

This is an erotic horror. It is definitely skewing more towards erotic than horror. The movie needs more tension. It moves too slowly for long stretches. As an erotica, it has some memorable scenes. I wish it concentrate more on the mystery horror side. It reveals too much for the mystery to be compelling. As it stands, this is a classy soft core porn with an actual story.

This is quite a shocking movie and crude. Shows the real side of life...no fairy tales added; straight to the point. Shows what girls had to go through and the anonymity of themselves - not knowing who they are, how they got to be there or even where they are. The school is he only thing they know. They find refuge within themselves, they are each other's family. This movie shows us the consequences to each of the girls' actions. The love story is amazing. We see the deep love the girls have for each other and it being the only thing they have to hold on to. This movie shows us that love doesn't always last forever and that it doesn't overcome obstacles. Shows us the cruel lives that these girls had to live. Amazing movie.

This film, based on a novella by Frank Wedekind, which we read a long time ago, suffers the too-many-cooks-spoil-the-broth syndrome. Being a co-production of England, Italy and the Czech Republic doesn't help the strange mishmash this film turned out to be. To add insult to injury, the finished product suffers from a case of an atrocious dubbing, which can be quite maddening on the viewer who is paying close attention to the expressions of the actors against what is being said by them at any given moment. Since the dialog is in Italian, and many in the cast don't speak the language, the result is disorienting, to say the least.

The story of a girls' orphanage makes an intriguing premise. The institution serves as the home for those who have been unfortunate enough to land in it. The girls are being groomed in ballet dancing, mainly. There is a certain degree of mystery about the provenance of these beautiful young women which is not quite easy to grasp until one adventurous girl, Vera, who has been slighted by the ballet mistresses into a secondary spot in the corps, that she decides to engage Irene and Hidalla, to help her. This proves to be a fatal mistake, as things begin to unravel around them.

Jacqueline Bisset appears as the headmistress with a secret of her own. Mary Nighy and Hannah Taylor-Gordon are seen as Hidalla and Irene; they share also a passion that will get them in trouble. Nataalia Tena plays Vera, the girl who discovers where the records of the girls are being kept and pays a high prize for it. Enrico Loverso, an excellent Italian actor, has nothing to do in the film.

The best thing in the movie is the cinematography of Fabio Zamarion, who takes advantage of the great old structure where the action takes place, as well as the bucolic surrounding area photographed somewhere in the Czech Republic. Director John Irvin, who evidently was involved for a long time in the project, emphasizes the homoerotic aspects of the story as well as more gory details.