This movie was rushed into production to cash in on the sudden and unexpected success of Just Jaeckin's EMMANUELLE, which explains the directorial presence of a hack like Guy Casaril whose biggest hit had been the slightly naughty farce LES NOVICES, pitting then reigning sex goddess Brigitte Bardot against experienced comedienne Annie Girardot.
Production values are fair (decent cinematography, fluent editing but awfully dated soundtrack full of elevator muzak) but the travelogue footage of the original it's trying to emulate is sadly missing. And yet this is still my personal favorite among that revered soft porn blockbuster's myriad cinematic siblings (and I duly apologize to lovely Laura Gemser for that statement, true though it is !), largely because of beautiful blonde anti-bimbo Betty Mars in the title role. A talented torch singer who sadly took her own life in the late 80s, she's best remembered for supplying her vocal chords to the title character otherwise played by Brigitte Ariel (whatever happened to her ?) in Casaril's biopic PIAF. Her only movie appearance 'in the flesh' (and, boy, that's no euphemism !) was here as the bisexual spouse of arts professor Claude fooling around with conniving student Nicole, 'Nouky' to her friends. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Mars attacks (sorry, couldn't resist that one) the part with such intensity, she completely overshadows the rest of the not terribly convincing cast. Her female co-star Guerin in particular is a source of irritation, her whole repertoire consisting of mugging and pouting.
Thanks to our Betty's haunted performance, sex scenes such as her discovery of the joys of Sapphic romance in the arms of a small legion of blonde and buxom Widows of the Sea (don't ask how this came about, just sit back and enjoy) end up far more stimulating than they might have been. Another aspect that puts this movie apart from most other titillation romps is its dim view of marital bliss with some of the harrowing scenes in its middle section (when the protagonists attempt a 3-way marriage with disastrous results) playing like Strindberg Lite.
