Delta of Venus (1995)

Delta of Venus: Directed by Zalman King. With Audie England, Costas Mandylor, Eric da Silva, Raven Snow. A struggling American writer (England) and a fellow American expatriate (Mandylor) begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.

“Anais Ninu0026#39;s infamous book is brought to the screen by King, the man who put the u0026quot;softu0026quot; in soft-porn. It is full of attractive actors and beautiful cinematography, much like a shampoo commercial. The leads (England and Mandylor) try hard to convey the smoldering lust that lies behind their supposedly passionate but rather vacuous stares but then they open their mouths and utter either sweet nothings or something unbelievably pretentious and it just ruins everything. There is a fair amount of nudity and simulated sex (although the NC-17 rating is puzzling) but the frenetic editing destroys the mood just as things start to get interesting. Read the book instead.”