41 ans, épouse adultère

This edition of Dorcel's "Age of a woman" series represents British filmmaker Liselle Bailey's best piece of narrative cinema to date, after demonstrating expertise with both actors and stylish technique in her previous efforts for the French label.

I was especially pleased with the lack of interference with her final cut here, as it is presented with dual dialog tracks intact. Most of the cast in the set-in-London story speak English, but notably new bombshell starlet Ania Kinski, Rico Simmons and also longtime British-based French actor Pascal White enunciate in French. Bailey dubs both ways to create the DVD's English and French choices of soundtrack, whereas previously the brass at Dorcel usually smothered her direct-sound dialog with music or heavy voice-over narration.

The unique fetish model Zara DuRose is in the title role, a housewife neglected by her hubby Pascal (White) and comparing notes with her BFF Ania (Kinski), who is married to Rico (Simmons). Both actresses alternate in voice-over narration to give their point-of-view as well as helping the story move along, with flashbacks and several illustrative sequences. Also narrating is the divine Brit Porn star Tamara Grace, another friend who likewise figures in the sexcapades. (I recently saw a very minor '60s Michael Crawford sex comedy "Two Left Feet" and was struck how the female lead, sex beauty of the period Nyree Dawn Porter whose career peaked in "The Forstye Saga" TV series, so closely resembles Tamara, her 21st Century Adult Cinema counterpart.)

Zara's problems with infidelity, both her own and that of her husband, are dramatically viable, and the acting by the ensemble cast is excellent for a XXX feature, especially in these decadent gonzo times when acting has been generally cast to the wind as extraneous. Liselle takes pains to flesh out the story and resolve subplots, as well as including montages (which sometimes feature snippets of either hardcore or soft-core sex) that amplify the requisite lengthy "real-time" XXX scenes which audiences demand nowadays.

Ania, who is shaping up as a worthy successor to Anissa Kate in Dorcel's superstar roster of talent, emerges as the heavy, while DuRose is very sympathetic and uniquely beautiful with her rosy pink nipples and peaches & cream complexion. Her trademark fetish approach is available in a neglected but essential video titled "Zara's Fetish Girls", co-starring Stella Cox.

Bailey's talent stands out in several unusual scenes, notably a lengthy cheating tryst by Tamara with a young man, all while we see her husband puttering around in the garden outside the window oblivious to the adultery, adding a sense of danger. I especially liked the director's treatment of a "dangling" flashback, in which Zara recalls first having sex with her future husband Pascal 10 years ago, the sensual blow-job interrupted by her doorbell ringing, bringing Zara out of her reverie. The scene is finally completed, with money shot to her face, several reels later at the end of her story.

On the basis of this wonderful feature, Liselle is worthy of a mainstream assignment, though unfortunately the opportunity for porn directors to crossover into indie non-X features no longer exists in today's pigeonholed industry.