Die Geschichte der Laura M (1979)

Die Geschichte der Laura M: Directed by David Hamilton. With Maud Adams, Dawn Dunlap, James Mitchell, Maureen Kerwin. Sculptor Paul meets a former great love again after a long time — but is much more impressed by her 15-year-old daughter, Laura, who looks like her mother when Paul was in love with her. Laura likes him very much too, but her jealous mother prevents any further contact. She allows him to make a sculpture of Laura, but only from photos.

“Sometimes a movie can be merely about its images, like this one. The story can be about the images too.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was very impressed with the way vignettes were composed. Rather lovely, most of them except for the annoying fade to black at the end of each and every one. To appreciate this, or rather to not be offended, I suppose you have to accept that the female form is appealing, and accept that a young girl can initiate an affair with an older man.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBesides the appeal of the balletgirls and the way they are displayed, thereu0026#39;s the story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt isnu0026#39;t much of one, surely insufficient for most commentors, and the fact that it is so slight seems to rile them a bit, as indication that the nudity was all that mattered.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the elements of the story that do exist are what I call u0026quot;folding.u0026quot; Usually the purpose of folding is to place the viewer in the movie, and thatu0026#39;s the case here.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWe have an artist in the writer/director who represents young girls in the nude. He and we have a surrogate on-screen, in a character who is an artist (a sculptor) and represents young girls in the nude. The titular Laura is a dancer, inviting viewers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo far, the fold is ordinary. By the thinnest of plot devices, our sculptor goes blind after starting a sculpture of Laura. So she offers to be the model, allowing him to caress her on every part, sufficiently to make a clay copy, which he similarly caresses. She, meanwhile has a crush on him and seduces him during this process.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSee the fold? We not only get to look but touch, and that touch is returned.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNo, mau0026#39;am thatu0026#39;s not a slight story. No, not at all.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTedu0026#39;s Evaluation — 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.”