La vitrine du plaisir

Not present in the IMDb database until I added it this week (40 years after release), "The Sex Window" is one of those insider looks into the porn industry, French division. Unlike the famous and far more pretentious 1975 feature "Exhibition" (which I unfortunately saw back then at the NY Film Festival when it was riding the Porno Chic wave into undeserved respectability) it is light, ephemeral entertainment.

We have an attractive redhead free-lance femme reporter assigned to do an expose on porn production in Paris, and she spends a week on set watching pros (with the crew doing double duty on screen) at work. Not surprisingly, she's won over by the profession, in the age-old porn trope of promoting its industry to outsiders and the viewing public at every opportunity.

The sex scenes are brief and uninvolving, hardly erotic but more documentary in nature. Many a familiar French porn player of the '70s pops up, led by the Numero Uno in the field, Brigitte Lahaie. Precious little is learned about the local industry, as talented director Gerard Kikoine treats this project with minimal respect.