All Ladies Do It

This Italian softcore epic is the longest version ever released in the UK. Loosely inspired by Mozart’s famous opera Cosi fan tutte (what would he make of it, one wonders), it stars the ravishing Claudia Koll in the lead.

Gorgeously photographed, director Brass manages to add Continental sophistication to a tale that is otherwise not exactly complex… unlike the mind of its heroine Diana (C. Koll). On the upbeat note, the acting here is superior to most films of that genre, that also goes for the humour and the sexually explicit scenes (All Ladies Do It was filmed in 1992). In fact, one could be forgiven to think that Tinto Brass has one hell of an obsession with the female derrière.

Diana and Paolo (Paolo Lanza) are an apparently happily married couple, although it’s Diana who is the nymphomaniac. Her sex drive is so big that she can’t help going astray from time to time. Which is little wonder… seeing how her husband possesses all the allure of 2nd Grade school teacher. However, Paolo feels turned on by her tales of wild sexual exploits. To tease him even more, she also works in a lingerie shop, though at times the shop seems more like an excuse for an establishment in which customers can live out their fantasies. Ann Summers, take note!
All that game malarkey changes when Diana inherits a stunning apartment in Venice and embarks on an affair with the eccentric poet Alphonse (Franco Branciaroli), with whom she already had an encounter earlier on. This time, Paolo realises that Diana’s stories are for real (honestly, he must be a bit of a dope for believing that her tales are mere tales…) and throws her out.
Not that this breakup stops Diana from continuing with her sexual exploits, au contraire, she really takes a walk on the wild side now! Transvestites, substance fuelled techno-music parties that turn into bacchanalian orgies, group sex, well, the whole hog basically.

Meanwhile, poor jilted Paolo sits on a beach, miserable and all alone – until his alter ego appears in front of him and tells him that he’s the narrow-minded idiot here, after all, his wife loves him – and what harm can it do if she has a little affair for fun’s sake? An opinion shared by one of Diana’s girlfriends, who equally tries to convince Paolo that his moral coda is ‘old-fashioned’, before she tries to seduce him… Seeing how everything is so incredibly free and liberal, Italy’s divorce lawyers must be permanently out of work…

Of course, there is another message in all this, namely that girls are doing it for themselves and just wanna have fun. And if men can wander about philandering, then why shouldn’t women do the same? Which is fine by me, come to think of it.

The special features on the dual format deluxe edition (DVD and HD-Blu-ray) are:

* Optional English and Italian audio
* Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian audio
* Original trailer
* Reversible sleeve
* Collector’s booklet (Illustrated) featuring new writing by film critic David Flynt