Top Model

Released By: One 7 Movies
Released On: September 9, 2014
Director: Mario Gariazzo
Cast: Florence Guerin, Geretta Geretta, Marino Mase
Year: 1987
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The Movie:

L'Attrazione (not really sure why the film was retitled Top Model for the One 7 Films release, but this seems to be an ongoing thing with them) stars the beautiful Florence Guerin (Demons 6) as a fashion photographer.

The movie opens with a long pan along the stockinged leg of Nadine, a fashion photographer played by the beautiful Florence Guerin (Demons 6: De Profundis, The Click). She opens the window of her train car and has a cigarette, but a man enters her train car and begins to grope and caress her, going as far as to undo her skirt. She doesn't protest, only continues licking her lips, as the man pulls down her panties and begins to take her from behind without protest. It's as stylish and erotic as it is perplexing, but fans of Italian eurosleaze should come to expect the strange and sexual from deep cuts like L'Attrazione.

Nadine arrives at the villa of a Dr. Victor Schneider for the purpose of a photo shoot The Doctor's wife doesn't believe the shoot is possible, based on its subject matter, but Victor is intruiged. The concept of the shoot is to recreate the forbidden images of a man's mind, but from a woman's point of view. She wants to have a bunch of models in various states of undress come to the villa to take erotic photos, and Victor consents, but not before telling Nadine that she's “a man's dream come true.” I wonder if it's going to turn out that he was the guy from the train?

The models show up to the villa for the shoot, and lots of skin is exposed, including a nude Geretta Geretta (Demons, Rats: Night of Terror). As she is about to leave the villa, Nadine is challenged to a game of chess by Victor. Although it's an unusual request, she accepts. The wager? If she loses, Victor gets to have his way with her, but if she loses, he has to die. That sounds pretty dramatic, but it doesn't really play out like that at all. It's more like high stakes flirting, Italian style.

The two begin to play and their game quickly takes on an erotic charge, but they are interrupted by Victor's wife and she leads Nadine to her room for the night. Nadine changes into clothes for dinner, and the camera holds on her as she removes her blouse, revealing her silky black lingerie. She showers and touches herself, thinking of her experience on the train. At dinner, the two flirt in front of the doctor's wife, who wonders if the two have met before. This transitions abruptly into a dream scene of Nadine and Victor fucking while his wife watches the pair from a chair in the corner while masturbating.

The next day, Nadine meets Victor's secretary and learns that his “wife' is not actually his wife at all, but that his real wife left him over a year ago, and he's since taken to living with various women in his home. And then this chess game continues, and the steam and saxophone score begins to really swell. After each move of their chess game, depending on whose move was successful, they continue to up the ante sexually. All the while she continues to remember the stranger from the train...

L'Attrazione is a very voyeuristic film. There are several scenes of characters staring at the camera, or at each other, and the camera in turn objectively examines the characters and their private erotic moments like a reflective mirror. That it does this without coming across as particularly leering or misogynistic (for the most part) is impressive for a movie of this type.

The costumes in L'Attrazione are opulent, sequined and gaudy in the way that the best Italian films from this time period often are. Even if this definitely not one of the best films of that period by a long shot. The lingerie that Nadine wears is often black silk, so if you've got a stocking fetish and a hard on for Italian softcore erotica, this is your movie. There is plenty of sexy saxophone music and dreamy 80s synths playing in the background of this film. The atmosphere generated by the soft lighting, sexy sax, and glitzy costumes is exactly what comes to mind when you think of a softcore erotic film from the late 80s.

If there's a downside to the film, it is definitely in the casting. Florence Guerin is a very good looking woman but she's certainly not the most gorgeous or even sexy Italian woman to ever grace the screen. This is also true of her male counterpart Marino Mase, who is both too old for the role and too wooden in his performance to match Guerin's sexuality. The rest of the supporting cast don't leave much of an impression either. Other issues with the film include a somewhat meandering plot, especially as the film moves towards the middle section, and what has to be one of the most awkward, and dare I say boring, rape scenes in the history of cinema.

What this amounts to is a decadent film that has some moments of classic Italian sleaze, and a few really bizarre moments, but is ultimately non-essential except for the real die-hard collector's of Italian softcore erotica.

Audio/Video/Extras:

Top Model (L'Attrazione) is presented on DVD by One 7 Movies in 1.33:1 aspect ratio on a Region 0 DVD. The picture quality is very good for an obscure Italian film of this era. L'Attrazione is by no means an extremely stylish or well-shot film, but the quality of restoration is high without appearing artificially enhanced. Colors have a natural, if somewhat neutral and faded look, but it fits with the whole soft focus sexuality of the film. There doesn't appear to be any digital noise or unwanted artifacts in the picture, and detail is quite good considering the low budget and the otherwise uninspired visuals of the film. Fans of this kind of film will be happy with the picture quality presented here.

The audio of L'Attrazione is remastered in Dolby Digital from its original Italian Mono track. It's not an especially robust audio track, but like the visuals on the DVD, it sounds accurate to the quality of the film itself. The audio is very clean and free of distortion, there's a minimum of sound effects, but when that saxophone blows and the synth score builds itself up to a climax, you won't have any problems with the sound quality. English subtitles are available, and appear to be free of any spelling and grammatical errors.

There are no extras included with this release.

The Final Word:

Light a few candles, get out the scented oil, and have yourself some greasy, steamy fun with Top Model.