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Released by: Alpha France/TLA Video
Released on: June, 2014.
Director: Burd Tranbaree
Cast: Cathy Menard, Elisabeth Bure, Christine Chireix, Richard Allan, Alban Ceray
Year: 1983
Purchase From TLA Video
The Movie:
One of the last films directed by Claude Bernard-Aubert (under his Burd Tranbaree alias) and the final film produced by Alpha France, 1983's L'Initiation d'une femme mariée (The Initiation Of A Married Woman for those who don't speak French!) brings the production company's run of original films to a close in grand style.
The story revolves around a woman named Babeth (Cathy Menard), the attractive wife of Leopold (Richard Allan). Unfortunately, the spark in their marriage is gone. While Leopold still lusts after her she has no interest in him until she witnesses him getting some on the side courtesy of his secretary (Christine Chireix). As she basically spies on him and follows him around town she quickly realizes that learning all of this has started to turn her on. As such, she finds a renewed enthusiasm kink. Now slightly renewed, she head home and gives Leopold a night he won't soon forget.
Satiated, Leopold suggests that they turn things up a notch and visit a swingers club and as they voyage further into the world of unbridled and uninhibited passion, they each find a renewed zest for the pleasures of the flesh and decide to hold a party of their own… consequences be damned.
This film is smarter and more cerebral than your average vintage porno movie, French, American or otherwise. The story does a pretty decent job of getting us into Babette's state of mind early in the film and so too does it showcase why Leopold goes searching elsewhere for fun and sexual kicks. Menard does a fine job of carrying the picture. Not only is she a sexpot with plenty of good looks to show off and a fine sense of self in front of the camera but she's got these beautiful doe eyes that give her character a sense of… sadness. Not that most of us want or need sad porn, but you can't help but feel for her character as all of this plays out.
The film also leaves certain aspects of her sexual reawakening open to interpretation - is what she's now going along with a good thing or a bad thing? Is this being done entirely because she's not discovered the kinky side of herself that was dormant all these years or is this a last ditch effort to save a her marriage? Leopold's character isn't fleshed out as well, he's really just a horny guy who likes to fuck but to his credit he does seem to not only care for his wife but enjoy being with her as well. In a scene that takes place early in the movie he sets up the TV set so that it won't work. So habitual is her behavior to him at this point that he knows what she's going to do and is able to take a step to change that. He hopes this will result in sex, he wants passion from her and his intent here is carnally motivated or not, noble but it's Babette who seems to feel some inner torment about the events portrayed in the picture.
Shot with plenty of style and making great use of an attractive cast and some interesting Parisian locations, The Initiation Of A Married Woman may have been the last feature produced by Alpha France, but so too is it one of their most interesting. Tranbaree paces the pictures well, ensuring that we get all the bumping and grinding that we paid to see, but also crafting an intelligent and thought provoking story to go along with the nicely shot and scintillating scenes of copulation.
Video/Audio/Extras:
TLA Video, through a deal with Alpha France, presents The Initiation Of A Married Woman on MOD/DVD-R in 1.66.1 widescreen, which would appear to be the movie's original aspect ratio. The image is a little soft but stable enough. Colors look okay, skin tones look okay is a little flat and black levels are decent. There are times where some minor compression artifacts pop up and the picture gets just a tad fuzzy, but otherwise this is an okay looking presentation.
The only audio option on the disc is an English language Dolby Digital Mono track. It would have been cool to see both the English and French tracks provided as the dubbing here is pretty obvious, though it is at least played straight. Dialogue is occasionally a bit muffled but more often than not it's pretty clear and the score sounds quite good.
There are no extras on this disc.
The Final Word:
The Initiation Of A Married Woman is a really strong film, a sexy picture that'll deliver what you want in terms of explicitness but also a movie that offers some decent food for thought. Throw in some solid production values, a very good cast and an impressive performance from the film's beautiful female lead and it's easy to see why this one is regarded as a classic.
