Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Premiers désirs" is a French 90-minute film from 33 years ago. It was the last, probably final, directorial effort by famous photographer David Hamilton and it may be a good thing he focused on other areas as this film has little value in my opinion. It is occasionally visually aesthetic, but that is not much of an achievement taking into account that the entire thing plays on a beautiful island. Actually, it is a tourist destination, which also takes away all the survival aspects that this film could have had if they went for a truly (almost) deserted island. So yeah, there are some hot chicks in here, certainly not all of them, but the story, the soundtrack and most of the acting were fairly embarrassing. I am not sure if you have heard of the French television show "Sous le soleil". Imagine a very poor man's version of this one without the stunning Benedicte Delmas, but with weaker actors, script and more breasts in exchange.Also, the language is listed as German on the title page here. This is very much incorrect. All the dialogs are in French, so make sure you get subtitles unless you are fluent in the language. The cast includes a couple semi-famous names such as Patrick Bauchau or the very young Emmanuelle Béart, but there are also actors in here playing major characters that have never or almost never acted before or after this film and it painfully shows in terms of their range and line delivery. The most ridiculous moment was probably when they included a plane crash really only for dramatic purpose and it was so obviously try-hard that people would see this as more significant than soft-core porn. It is not. Not recommended.

Hitchcoc Beautifully photographed, lovely young women, virtually no plot or plot motivations. I guess this is a genre of French cinema. Three young women take a boat out on the sea at night. They are lucky to survive when the boat gets wrecked. One of them lies unconscious on the beach and is rescued by a handsome boy. Soon they are sort of owning the island and having various encounters with some young men they have met. All three, plus a beautiful concert pianist, are hard to take your eyes off of. But at some point it slogs along to where there are no real questions. I watched it because the Criterion Collection included it and I have been picking an choosing from their library of films. This one really turned out to be a waste of time. Lots of standing around, posing, and laughing, and doing little else.

Thorsten-Krings This film makes you really appreciate the invention of the fast forward button on your remote control. It's exquisite boredom in beautiful pictures. For once Hamilton goes relatively easy on soft focus shots. However, what I found hard to take about the film was that although Anja Schüte was about 19 when it was shot the girls are portrayed as much younger than they actually are. This whole Lolita thing especially as there is an older man involved leaves me rather uneasy. The heroine is actually shaved in the pubic area in order to make her look even younger than she is. Come on, sex is a nice past time- between consenting adults. Another thing I found odd was that neither Beart nor Schüte have a nude scene in the film, well, not a proper one at least.

Peter (peterdub) One star for the "plot". One star for the acting. One star for the dubbing into squeaky-voiced American. Five stars for Monica Broeke and Inge Maria Granzow, with their propensity for taking all their clothes off. And ten out of ten for the divine Emmanuelle Béart, two years before she made 'Manon des sources'. Béart also undresses a couple of times, but even fully-clothed her presence is enough to make this film eminently watchable. Watch out for the scene where she tells her friend about the three "first times" for a girl. It's corny, but still far more erotic than the rather laughably choreographed "love scenes" featuring Broeke, Granzow and Patrick Bauchau. Incidentally, the cinematography is not great; the stills for the closing credits are a better indication of what David Hamilton is capable of.