The Teasers

This is a coming-of-age story about a girl who can't decide whether she should go for her classmate or an older man (her father's business associate). The film lacks artistic interest and the dialogue is boring. The "comedy" scenes are either ridiculous or flat, and are similar to what you might find on a TV sitcom. It seemed like "Loredona" (Gloria Guida) did a lot of driving around on a moped going nowhere.

Gloria Guida is known for her sultriness in her films. Playing a school girl tart in this film has its perks. Playing with every guy in school can be fun or cruel. During class, she would reveal much as possible to make her teachers see red as much as possible. The first teacher got sent to the hospital. He didn't have a weak stomach, but he should have had his heart checked out from the first. The second teacher almost got canned for a scandal. But seems like he watched a lot of Jackie Chan films. Unlike "Blue Jeans", this film has a lot more comedy. Seems like my insides took a turn for the worst. I couldn't stop laughing. You must be in the best of health when watching this film. Ciao! 3 out of 5 stars

For about a decade Gloria Guida graced many T&A Italian films. Inevitably she would appear nude a couple of times during the movie and there was usually a fairly trite plot to justify calling the shoot a "film". Her acting was a little limited but she could do comedy quite well and she had that rare quality of being photogenic (and not just because of the nudes), her presence in a scene inevitably resulted in everybody else disappearing from your attention.

La Liceale is her best movie. Agreed the plot is just as silly as all the other films she made but at least the Cinematography was top-notch (by Giancarlo Ferrando), there were some genuinely funny moments (Alvaro Vitali could be funny sometimes) and even Angela Doria does a good turn as Lucia.

And of course Gloria Guida is very beautiful.

I saw this movie in Italian with Italian subtitles for the deaf (long story), and Gloria Guida and her female co-stars like Ilona "Ciccalona" Staller stripped off so regularly that I was having trouble concentrating on the subtitles so I probably missed a few plot points. The title roughly translates to "The High School Student" or "The High School Co-ed", but, unlike in American films of its ilk, no one in this film is remotely believable as a high school student. One of the "boys", for instance, is played by one of those goofy, rubber-faced Italian comedians who looks like he's about thirty five and acts like he's about eight (although given Guida's impossibly short mini-skirts and perpetually uncrossed legs, it's possible he and the other guys flunked a few years, unable to concentrate on their studies). There were a number of movies like this in the 1970's featuring pretty much the same cast, but they all basically fall into two categories--the ones where Edwige Fenech (or sometimes Carrol Baker) plays a sexy female TEACHER who drives all the male students and faculty crazy, and the ones where Gloria Guida (or sometimes Lili Karati) plays a sexy female STUDENT who drives all the male students and faculty crazy. In truth the two actresses were not that far apart in age, but Fenech had the more busty mature-looking body and Guida the more convincing adolescent pout, so they were typecast accordingly.

The first part of the movie focuses on Guida's attempts to lose her virginity. Adolescent pout notwithstanding, Guida is not remotely believable as a naive virgin, so this part of the plot is pretty far-fetched. The class lotharia gets Guida completely naked twice, but is unable to "seal the deal", so she finally gives it up to one of her father's smooth business partners, which triggers a whole domestic melodrama involving her neglectful businessman father and her lonely, unfaithful mother. There are also allegedly hilarious subplots where the thirty-five-year "student" tries to pick up his female classmates by painting them in the nude, and where Guida's friend (Staller) apparently becomes a prostitute for older men (pretty appropriate for an actress who later worked in both hardcore porn and Italian politics). Meanwhile, the new male teacher tries to recover from the trauma after he accidentally uses Guida's panties for a handkerchief (you don't even want to know. . .).

This movie is very stupid, not particularly funny, and at times downright annoying, but it certainly delivers what it promises. So if you're still reading this, I imagine you'll probably like it.

Michele Massimo Tarantini's The Teasers occupies that curious middle ground where exploitation cinema flirts with genuine aesthetic ambition, occasionally succeeding, occasionally stumbling over its own salacious intentions. Gloria Guida radiates a particular luminosity here, her performance balanced precariously between calculated provocation and moments of surprising emotional transparency. She understands the assignment: play the archetype while occasionally subverting it. When her Loredana finally confronts the emotional aftermath of her sexual awakening, Guida drops the coquettish mask just enough to register genuine confusion and hurt. It is a fleeting moment, but it lands. Alvaro Vitali, relegated to dorky comic relief as the perpetually rejected Petrucchio, delivers precisely what the genre demands: bumbling desire played for cheap laughs. Gianfranco D'Angelo's Professor Guidi veers uncomfortably into leering territory, though the film seems only dimly aware of how unsettling this dynamic actually registers.

Where The Teasers distinguishes itself from countless commedia erotica all'italiana contemporaries is in Giancarlo Ferrando's cinematography, which elevates the material beyond mere softcore titillation. The framing demonstrates a considered eye: compositions that use natural light filtering through shuttered windows, establishing shots that locate bodies within architectural geometry rather than simply objectifying them. Certain sequences, particularly those set in sun-drenched courtyards or shadowed bedrooms, achieve something approaching visual poetry, a rare accomplishment for a film primarily designed to showcase Guida's physical attributes. The camera observes her with an almost painterly attention to form and light, occasionally transcending the exploitative gaze the narrative demands. Enzo Cerasuolo's score oscillates between playful Italian pop confections and more contemplative passages, though it never quite commits to either register fully.

The pacing lurches unevenly. Early sequences breeze through Loredana's classroom manipulations with breezy efficiency, but the film loses momentum during repetitive seduction vignettes that recycle the same basic dynamic: she teases, they pant, she laughs. By the time the narrative pivots toward her emotional reckoning, the tonal shift feels abrupt, insufficiently prepared by what preceded it. The dialogue veers between genuinely witty banter and dated sexual politics that now land with uncomfortable thudding weight. Tarantini seems uncertain whether he is making a satire of male sexual frustration or simply indulging it, and that ambivalence permeates the entire project.

Two moments linger beyond the credits: Loredana's post-coital devastation, filmed with uncharacteristic restraint as she processes loss rather than conquest, and an earlier sequence where she manipulates a hapless teacher into changing her grade, the power dynamic rendered through glances and body language rather than exposition. These beats hint at a sharper film lurking beneath the genre trappings. The presence of Ilona Staller (pre-Cicciolina fame) in a supporting role adds a layer of cultural curiosity for those tracking Italian cinema's unusual intersections between erotica, comedy, and eventual politics.

The Teasers bears superficial DNA similarities to the French Emmanuelle films or Radley Metzger's American softcore work, though it lacks their sustained commitment to sensual atmosphere. It functions better as a showcase for Ferrando's unexpectedly elegant visual approach and Guida's star-making charisma than as a coherent narrative experience.

This film will connect with viewers fascinated by 1970s Italian genre cinema's peculiar aesthetic negotiations, those interested in Gloria Guida's early career, or cinephiles curious how exploitation frameworks occasionally produced genuinely striking imagery. It will frustrate audiences seeking narrative coherence, viewers uncomfortable with dated sexual politics presented without critical distance, or those expecting either full-throated comedy or genuine erotic charge. The film delivers neither consistently, instead offering something stranger: a confused but occasionally beautiful artifact of its particular cultural moment, elevated by craftsmanship that deserved better material.