An indescribably crude slice of Danish humor that shocked the prudes in the U.S. in 1967, complete with male and female nudity (including a brief female "full frontal" shot), all of which kept the film in "art house" venues. The plot has a virginal schoolboy Jacob (played by a somewhat overaged-looking Ole Soltoft) visiting relatives for summer and within one month goes from innocence to satyriasis. The family maid attempts to seduce him, and he is drawn into his own sexual awakening by his cousin, in the only truly erotic sequence of the movie, which comes in the final ten minutes or so. ERIC SOYA'S 17 is not subtle, either. It plays as a slapstick comedy and it seems that the actors were instructed to mug and roll their eyes as much as possible. There is even a syrupy title song, "Seventeen," sung in Ed Ames style to an ersatz 101 Strings accompaniment. That said, the film will not appeal to viewers raised on 1980s-style sex comedies, as ERIC SOYA'S 17 is slow-moving and "arty" in the manner of most 1960s cinematic erotica.
