The Widow

Recently watching the HBO American adaptation of Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" I was struck once again by the overwhelming influence the Swedish great has had on so many serious filmmakers. Nica Noelle is no exception, exemplified in this fine romantic drama "The Widow" she made for Erika Lust's porn label.

Though marketed as a four-part TV series, it plays well as a less than 2-hour long feature, dealing with the not often treated topic in Adult Cinema of sexuality and growing old. Sure, MILFs are exceedingly popular in porn, but not viewed as aging but rather as exceedingly desirable sex objects. With "The Widow" and another excellent movie "All About Hope" (starring Andi James), Nica is dealing with mid-life crises.

Magdalene St. Michaels, an icon of Lesbian cinema, gives a sensitive performance as a 60-something university professor grieving the death of her husband. Her life and future now seem aimless, and she's seeing a therapist (Dana Vespoli, cold and calculating to a fault).

She falls in love with an amiable student (Michael Delray in one of his best acting roles) while tutoring him after class in a study of Tolstoy's philosophy. Writer-director Noelle maintains a serious, often sombre tone, yet peppers the movie with naturalistically depicted romantic sex scenes, her trademark.

Parallel to the central story is Dana the shrink's manipulation of Dante Colle, a classmate of Michael's, who is undergoing a questioning of his own sexuality. The use of explicit sex, tastefully presented, is very powerful in elaborating this material.

Daisy Ducati also appears as a coed who seduces Michael, a subplot crucial to setting up the film's climax.

As usual with Nica, the show has an open ending, leaving the characters' futures for the viewer to ponder rather than tying everything up neatly. Hardly a commercial project (especially in terms of porn trends), "The Widow" is a reminder that the once promising revolution of presenting explicit sex on screen (circa 1970s/80s) is still possible even in a current sea of frankly gonzo junk.