Florence Guerin Movies

Rico (Omar Sharif) has been a barber for a long time, and he has been married to his wife for four decades. It's about time that they take a vacation from the tiny village of Petrella Guidi and concentrate on themselves and their relationship. Zaira (Léa Massari), Pico's wife, surely loves him: however, she is tormented by guilt for an affair she had (and enjoyed enormously) years before. Together, they journey on foot along a river to the sea, where the landscape is marvelously picturesque. Along the way, they eavesdrop on a young couple of lovers, and Zaira confesses her long-cherished sin to a priest. Eventually they make their way to the ocean. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

During his lifetime, the noted Italian author Gabriele D'Annunzio was considered to be a genius, a daring adventurer, and a major Italian nationalist. During the Mussolini era, he was still considered to be a major figure in Italian literature, and many schoolchildren were required to study his tamer books. Several movies based on his life were made prior to this one, and they focused on his association with the Mussolini regime. Since then, his reputation has declined considerably, and this biographical drama certainly reflects his new status as a historically important but repugnant and artistically insignificant figure. In this story, the journalist-turned-author is a foolish-looking dandy who is just beginning to make his mark as a central figure in Italy's art-world. His little group would win the descriptive title of "the decadents." Here, he is shown as being the sort of man who would exploit the women he has affairs with to further his career. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The bumbling thieves Egisto (Massimo Boldi) and Dalmazio (Paolo Villaggio), from the 1986 Italian hit comedy Scuola di Ladri, are fresh out of prison (and an insane asylum) in Part II, and they soon find one another and team up with their infinitely more capable uncle (Enrico Mario Salerno) and the supposed daughter of their deceased partner, Susanna -- a sly wench if ever there was one. Together, they attempt and even succeed at a series of daring robberies, thanks more to their persistence than to any skill on their part. As a foursome, much of the comedy in the story centers on their unavailing attempts to outwit and swindle one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Obvious and cliched, this erotic tale of a professor and his friend's daughter who engage in an active sexual education is not exactly a tale of high drama. After the professor arrives at his friend's house in Spain, the two of them go through some of the sexually explicit literature in the house's library. The teen daughter asks the professor for more intimate readings and instruction, and he not only obliges her but also his friend's neglected wife. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This French oddity concerns a doctor's discovery of a unique, Love Potion #9-style invention which will inflame the libidos of beautiful women. He proceeds to terrorize Paris' double-X chromosome contingent. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

This standard softcore film actually has a plot of sorts that is adapted from a story by Honoré de Balzac, about a young model/prostitute named Venus (Josephine Jacqueline Jones) who comes to Paris from Martinique in the 19th century and encounters a series of lovers, male and/or female. Venus first captures the heart and the eye of young sculptor Armand (José Antonio Ceinos), who makes a statue of her called the "Black Venus." Venus's amorous attentions are next focused on the wealthy bisexual Madame Marie (Karin Schubert), causing Armand to downslide into depression -- partly because Venus is making money to support them through this prostitution. Later on, Venus falls for innocent teenager Louise (Florence Guerin) in Paris, and the two of them eventually move into the Spanish mansion of an art collector. The art collector, however, has more than a passing interest in the Black Venus statue -- and his greed bodes ill for everyone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi