The Film:
Tinto Brass has directed well over twenty films in his forty plus year career, just about all of them have one thing in common - explicit close ups of a sexual nature. For those fans of Brass, I can safely say that this film will not disappoint you. Following his tried and tested method of a multitude of explicit shots that I was amazed were passed by the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) showing their current relaxed state on passing films. It was probably due to one of the rules of Italian censorship where an erect penis must be a prosthetic prop, that helped this as I'm sure a real erect penis would've been cut.
Anyway, Mon Amour starts off by introducing us to the two main characters, Marta (Anna Jimskaia - Her debut role) and her book publishing husband Dario (Brass regular Max Parodi - Senso '45, Fallo!) at the Mantova Festival Letteratura Book Fair, where Dario is conducting business. After an opening sex scene where Dario finishes prematurely we move onto a dream sequence where Marta relives one of their first sexual moments in her mind. When Dario tells Marta to visit a local tourist attraction, she is followed and then groped by a stranger. Later that night, at a book publishing 'party', she dances with the stranger and then gets groped again. They go somewhere a bit more private, but get noticed by another publisher's wife who is at the fair with her husband's secretary. The secretary goes to the toilet with Marta and tells her she has an affair with him because the suspicion her husband has gives her an excellent sex life at home. As the story moves on, we learn the stranger to be Leon (Riccardo Marino - Fallo!, ummmm The Lizzie Maguire Movie :-? ), and Marta starts to cause suspicion with her husband in an attempt to save their sex life and their marriage. What Marta doesn't know however is that Dario and Leon are reading her secret diary, so they actually know what is happening.
Mon Amour is quite an enjoyable film, but those who have seen any of Brass' films from the late 90's and early 2000's will soon see many recurring sequences in the way the scenes are shot. I recommend people rent this first unless they are a hardcore Brass fan, then you should definately pick it up.
Picture:
Although Arrow Films have presented us with the OAR of 1.78:1, they have also provided it without being anamorphically enhanced, contrary to what the press releases say. Thankfully, however, the picture is still excellent and the colours are vibrant and clear as day. There was a very small amount edge enhancement, though I only noticed it in a couple of scenes. All in all, the picture is of great quality although not quite reference material. Subtitles have been provided in English (optional) and they are pretty much perfect.
Audio:
Arrow have provided us with the original Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track in Italian. Although the track is very good for what it is, I would've also liked the option of perhaps a 2.0 surround track or a 5.1 track to make full use of the atmospheric music track. All in all, it is good, but not groundbreaking.
Extras:
None
