November 18, 2008

Made as iconic director/cinematographer Joe Dā€™Amato was approaching the end of his prolific career (and yet, with another 97 adult-oriented films to go), Provocation / Provocazione is basically softcore adult masquerading as erotica, with long sex sequences lacking the graphic intercourse details Dā€™Amato was well-experienced with in his hardcore efforts.

The countryside location ā€“ an old inn made of quarried stone ā€“ adds the right rustic atmosphere in this familiar tale of an innkeeperā€™s wife (Fabrizia Flanders) who fancies a visiting businessman (Lyle Lovett lookalike Antonio Ascani, aka ā€œTony Robertsā€), while her husband Gianni Demartiis) goes after his cousin (Erika Savastani), set to live at the house after the recent death of her papa. An idiot nephew (Lindo Damiani) indulges in some masturbatory voyeurism by sneaking around the house without his shoes and peering through floor cracks at everyone elseā€™s fun time.

The characters are flat, Dā€™Amatoā€™s directorial style canā€™t craft any sense of humour beyond exchanges of berating insults (most inflicted on the nephew), and the performances vary in quality; the older actors fare the best, whereas Ascani seems very uncomfortable (maybe itā€™s the ill-fitting, wrinkled up linen suit), and Savastaniā€™s healthy figure canā€™t mask her complete lack of talent.

Dā€™Amato also slaps on stock music, and repeats the same cheesy early eighties muzak over sex scenes, and the film isnā€™t particularly well lit ā€“ perhaps a sign that his years in porn made him lazy after filming some very stylish ā€˜scope productions (such as the blazingly colourful Lā€™Anticristo).

Dā€™Amatoā€™s efforts to make something more upscale isnā€™t a failure ā€“ thereā€™s more than enough nudity to keep fans happy ā€“ and one can argue he was still capable of making a slick commercial product after going bonkers with sex, blood, and animals in his most notorious efforts. The photography and editing have a basic classical style, but thereā€™s no energy in the film, making Provocation a work best-suited for Dā€™Amato fans and completists.

Myaā€™s DVD comes from a decent PAL-NTSC conversion, although thereā€™s some flickering in the opening titles. The details are sharp, the colours stable, but there lighting is rather harsh, as though the transfer was made from a high contrast print. (The filmā€™s titles, Italian at the beginning, and English at the end - ā€œThe story, all names, characters and incidentals portrayed in this production, are fictitiusā€ - are also video-based, indicating Provocation was meant as product for video rental shelves.)

Besides English and Italian dub tracks, there are no extras, which is a shame, given something couldā€™ve been written about the product and its cast, many of whom were pinched by Dā€™Amato from prior Tinto Brass productions. Savastani had just appeared as a bit player in Brassā€™ The Voyeur / L'Uomo che guarda (1994), and would move on with co-star Demartiis to Fermo posta Tinto Brass / P.O. Box Tinto Brass (1995) and Senso ā€™45 / Black Angel (2002).

Ā© 2009 Mark R. Hasan