davidfmwingrove

This deliciously camp Spanish musical opens with the unlikely sight of Sara Montiel - primly voluptuous sex-symbol of Franco's Spain - dressed in a nun's habit. At first, you think this must be some sort of con-job (like Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act) but then you realise that no, her character actually is a nun!

She became a nun, of course, to atone for a life of depravity and sin. The story proper is told in flashback. We see her rise from murky origins to become a world-famous nightclub chanteuse - tormented, alas, by her love for a married man. Basically, this 'plot' is just an excuse for Sara to sing lots of songs and wear lots of extravagant gowns. She does both, of course, in the grand manner.

As if to recognise that Sara's stardom extended well beyond Spain, the 'story' sends her on a tour throughout Europe. Once she hits Athens, she dons a Grecian robe and sings a ballad in fluent Greek, in a nightclub whose decor resembles a Las Vegas version of the Parthenon. Now that's what I call an icon!

As gorgeous to behold as a Renoir painting come to life, this fin de siecle melodrama tells of a young laundress lured into prostitution by her sleazy and shiftless lover. Based on a novel by the French author Charles Louis Philippe, the film was meant to be shot in Paris - until budget woes forced director Mauro Bolognini to relocate it to the northern Italian city of Turin.

If anything, the switch works to the film's advantage. This story of love, lust and disease is a universal one. For all the pretty period trappings, the casual way in which the characters infect each other - one by one - with syphilis feels starkly contemporary in the age of AIDS. Exquisite on the surface but black at heart, Bubu is neither comfortable nor easy to watch.

As usual with Bolognini, the acting is first-rate. Ottavia Piccolo (so annoying as the insufferably virtuous wife in Metello, the director's best-known film) gives a powerful performance as Berta, the hapless young hooker. The pretty-boy Italian pop icon Massimo Ranieri fares surprisingly well as Piero, an idealistic student who tries to redeem her. Yet the film belongs to Antonio Falsi, who oozes reptilian sex-appeal as her ghastly lover and pimp, Bubu.

Visually, the film is a triumph for cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri and designer Piero Tosi, whose costumes here are as stunning as those he did for Visconti on Death in Venice that same year. Best news of all - the visual and dramatic splendour of Bubu is now easily available on Italian DVD.