La fleur du mal

Emily Reed (Carré Otis) is a Midwestern girl hired into a law firm. Her boss Claudia Dennis (Jacqueline Bisset) brings her and her language skills to Rio to close a property deal. The seller is stalling and Dennis takes off to chase him down in Buenos Aires. Reed takes over her dinner with wealthy James Wheeler (Mickey Rourke). Emily is soon taken in by exotic sexualized Brazil and the mysterious Wheeler.

Zalman King was the ruler of late-night TV soft porn and big screen overwrought erotica during a small slice of time. The production is luscious. Rourke is perfectly creepy and alluring. Otis is a blank. She is a deer caught in the headlines. In some ways, that performance works but she is never believable as a Midwestern girl. There is good production value for a softcore porn but this is not a good movie.