Review of La nipote

La nipote (1974)
Orchidea's very sexy, even minus hardcore
25 April 2011
LA NIPOTE is a sexy Italian comedy, which I've viewed in the "enhanced" (read: XXX inserts added) French-track porn version retitled UNE NIECE MALICIEUSE for dirty-minded Francophiles. Either way it's a fine spotlight for star Orchidea De Santis.

De Santis is not entirely unsung -she received a nice notice from IMDb's resident expert on the genre lazarillo, but she is not widely known like the Feneches and Mutis. Here the voluptuous blonde is in fine form, always bending over as the housemaid Doris, who has sex with every guy in sight. I liken her to a fluffer (in U.S. porn parlance), say Marlene Willoughby, not overly attractive but much more stimulating sexually than the usual "classical" beauty.

In the French version, apparently released 6 years later when porn had turned XXX, the emphasis is on gynecological closeup shots that are pure porn. Most of these are poorly matched to the original footage -for example we never see Orchidea actually engaged in the naughty bits. But confusingly there is one money shot where the camera pans up to reveal one of the male characters, so I'm not sure what happened -probably he was added whole cloth to the movie by the Frenchies.

Also, an emphasis in the French edition, per its title, is on visiting niece Agnes (or Adele in the Italian version listed in IMDb), a prim and proper young brunette who eventually causes trouble in the household. The uncle Michel (Luigi in the original) lusts after his niece but makes do humping Doris for most of the film.

Key subplot involves nerdy young Antoine (Antonio in Italian), surrounded by porn magazines but found attractive by all the women. The MILF wife of the menage, Francine (Zoraide in Italian), is an impressive sex performer, though her French body double does a lot of explicit stuff that shouldn't be credited to her. I wonder if there ever was a brou-ha-ha regarding doubles in these pasteup Continental sex films, the way there currently is regarding Natalie Portman and her dance double in BLACK SWAN?

The farcical slapstick is amusing, and the femme cast delivers alluring performances. I recommend the XXX version not only for French-speakers but in general because it delivers the logical conclusion to most otherwise teasing scenes, for a change.

Director Nello Rossati's all-time classic is THE SENSUOUS NURSE starring Ursula Andress, but this rather crude forerunner is worth a look, too.
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