The Love Merchant

Sarno is sometimes considered the skin-flick counterpart to Bergman (or, during his occult period, to Lewton), but if you dub this one into German, you'll swear it's an early Fassbinder melodrama. Set in the Greenwich Village art and go-go dance club milieu, it concerns a pretty, staid middle class woman who sleeps with a wealthy philanderer to save her alcoholic husband's business. The catalyst for the liaison is an ambitious, chain-wielding biker, whose oleaginous hanger-on character is reminiscent of Sydney Falco in "Sweet Smell of Success". As in the oeuvre of Fassbinder (and his mentor Sirk), the emphasis is on power-plays between the classes, personal exploitation and betrayal, and crossing one's own and society's barriers. As usual, the acting carries conviction and the plotting is riveting, but unfortunately, the quality is betrayed by the technical limitations -- sub-minimal sets, static dialogue scenes, and disastrous sound (re-)recording. There's some benign nudity and necking, but nothing graphic in the least; still the atmosphere is sleazy, cynical and at times stylized. And there's one stunning moment of pure cinema in the pivotal scene, which could have come from Pabst. Worth a look for aficionados of the subterranean strain of psychological truth in 60s exploitation.