En toute indiscrétion

I've been a fan of Liselle Bailey for many years now, and her latest Dorcel release, "Pretty Lovely Lies" is nearly perfect. She may never receive the kudos she deserves, but I continue to be thrilled by her work.

Lola Bellucci is perfect in the lead role of Lana, a barista whose true obsession is writing erotic novels, yet to be published. She spends her working life gazing at her customers and fantasizing about their sex lives, ample material for her writing.

Bailey meticulously documents her daily routine in a fashion familiar from great directors like Agnes Varda ("Cleo from 5 to 7") and Chantal Akerman ("Jeanne Dielmans"), and I couldn't help thinking of this talented pornographer probably facing rejection in the mainstream film world, just as her heroine Lana periodically receives rejection letters from the publishers to whom she mails her manuscripts.

Bellucci barely speaks a word here, with a great deal of voice-over narration explaining what she's thinking as well as introducing the series of erotic scenes about her customers that she fantasizes about. One of her subjects is Mariska, the popular Belgian MILF in Dorcel's acting stable, who is playing a successful publisher that Lana nicknames "the Boss" and to whom she slips one of her manuscripts to read. She is featured in a threesome with Sam Bourne and Alice Martin set in the basement of a private club, that is stylishly presented in monochrome (by way of lighting) -not a black & white vignette but rather drained of color.

Bailey's cerebral approach is hardly what is most popular in porn these days, but I believe it will stand the test of time, alongside her similar Ella Hughes starrer "Ella, the Sex Addict" made six years ago.