Cult Epics presents

All Ladies Do It (Cosi fan Tutte) (1992)

"That's complete immorality!"- Paolo Bruni (Paolo Lanza)

Stars: Claudia Koll, Paolo Lanza, Franco Branciaroli, Renzo Rinaldi, Ornella Marucci, Isabella Deiana
Director: Tinto Brass

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nudity, sexual content, language)
Run Time: 01h:25m:41s
Release Date: 2002-02-05
Genre: late night

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
C	D+	B	C+	D-

 

DVD Review

Director Tinto Brass has a certain reputation amongst Eurocult fans for softcore erotica that's a shade edgy. He's perhaps best known for the notorious Caligula, which was taken from him and had hardcore inserts added to increase its exploitation value. The relative value of Brass' contributions to that film may be in dispute in terms of praise or blame, but on the bottom line he has no one else to hide behind on this stinker.

Twenty-four-year-old Diana Bruni (Claudia Koll) is more or less happily married to her stodgy husband Paolo (Paolo Lanza). But a series of erotic encounters at her job (it's unclear what exactly she does, other than model underwear and allow herself to be fondled), at a party and on a bus lead her to sexual liberation. When Paolo finds out about this, he predictably flies into a jealous rage at his wife's unfaithfulness, and she, in retaliation, just becomes more dissolute.

Brass has one thing (well, two things) on his mind here: the female derriere. Nearly every single shot features a pair of well-shaped buttocks, clothed or not. The action, dialogue and the characters may move off screen, but the camera sticks right on the hams. Those with a fetish for the rear end will find much gratifying here, especially those who appreciate, um, lush upholstery. These are healthy, well-fed buns on display here. Not that I object, but those who find this less than fascinating will definitely want to give this picture a pass.

The women are undeniably attractive; the men range from homely to ugly to downright loathsome, apparently in a pathetic effort to make the lonely, home viewing male feel like there's hope for them, too. There's plenty of sexual innuendo and nudity, groping and simulated sex—vaginal, oral and anal—on display, but nothing hardcore is shown onscreen. But there's also not much content beyond the sexual material either, so anyone looking for serious cinema can just move along right now. The only thing resembling some depth of character is Paolo's hypocrisy in treating Diana's tales of infidelity as highly erotic while he thinks that they are merely fantasy; when he discovers a hickey on her, however, he flies into a rage, insists on divorce and refuses to back down.

Despite having a title swiped from a Mozart opera, the film has nothing to do with that story line other than a generalized attitude that women are fickle creatures. At least, I don't remember the incest or the anal sex in Mozart, but it's been a while since I've seen the opera. Some music from Mozart occasionally shows up in the background, but the musical illiteracy of the creators is demonstrated by a reference to Handel's Water Music as being a composition of Mozart. Pish-tush.

Okay, enough nasty cracks. The only other objection is that the running time listed on the backside of the case is several minutes longer than the actual running time.

[This review was of the original issue of this film by Cult Epics. Since its writing, Cult Epics has released a new DVD version of the film, running nearly ten minutes longer and much closer to XXX content than the original disc. Interested viewers will make their choices accordingly.]

Rating for Style: C
Rating for Substance: D+

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.66:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The 1.66:1 picture is presented in nonanamorphic fashion. This results in an acceptable, but not outstanding picture. Color is decent, but shadow detail is quite lacking. Blacks are fairly solid. The bit rate is reasonably high for a single layer disc, hovering around 5 Mbps for much of the presentation. Oddly enough, the black bars move around; sometimes they're visible only at the top or the bottom, and sometimes they're visible on both. This will no doubt prove irritating for anyone attempting to set a zoom for this image, but there is ample picture area around the various buttocks so that one need not be too concerned about losing vital information at the edge. There is fairly heavy grain throughout, and a persistent hair that appears in the frame. At one point, there is a visible tear in the film, so don't expect a pristine result.

Image Transfer Grade: B
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Mono	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: The 2.0 mono English track (badly dubbed) is the only audio presented on the disc. The sound is thin for the most part, with the dialogue far too forward and everything else too far in the back. Hiss and noise were minimal and not bothersome at all.

Audio Transfer Grade: C+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 13 cues and remote access
Packaging: Scanavo
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: Nothing but chapter stops. These are adequate. The end.

Extras Grade: D-
 

Final Comments

Mildly entertaining softcore Eurosmut, with a reasonably decent transfer. No extras to speak of. But be prepared for ample gratuitous displays of female rears.

Mark Zimmer 2002-01-30