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How sad is this?

Absolutely Fantastic

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is another erotic film from Swiss filmmaker Erwin C. Dietrich who specialises in this sort of countryside nude romp. If the film lacks a plot then this is more than compensated for by the amount of very attractive female flesh on display, which after all is what interests the viewers.Karine Gambier plays the widowed Frau Oberst who likes to try out potential suitors for her two nieces played by Brigitte Lahaie and Pascale Vital but the nieces seem to have eyes only for each other, not that they are not interested in the guys but the guys seem a bit half-hearted in their attempts to make it with the girls. Still, never mind, with several girl/guy scenes they all come good (no pun intended) in the end.One aspect of Mr Dietrich's filmmaking that I find interesting is his ability to secure picturesque locations such as castles and grand houses for his films. If this sort of film had been made in the UK, there would no doubt have been screaming headlines in the press calling for heads to roll and questions asked in Parliament but the Swiss and the continentals in general seem to take it all in their stride - and, in this reviewer's opinion, thank goodness for that.

"Die Nichten der Frau Oberst" or "Secrets of a French Maid" or "Come Play with Me 2" is a Swiss German-language film from 1980, so this one had its 35th anniversary last year. It runs for approximately 90 minutes and was directed by Erwin C. Dietrich, who also adapted the original novel by Guy de Maupassant here. The cast includes some actors and actresses who got somewhat known through the wave of sexually explicit German films from the 1970s. Well.. what else can you say about this film. The story is so bad it can be ignored entirely. Nothing of value is to see here. the acting is bad, but the script is even a lot worse. Is there any reason to watch this film? It's tough to find one for me. Maybe it's not a disastrous watch if you are really horny. At least they have a blonde chick and a brunette chick, so it's something for everybody and some may even find Frau Oberst appealing. But like I said, from a cinematic perspective you will not find any quality in here whatsoever. This is an example of how film is not always art. A rigorous thumbs-down from me.

This Erwin Deitrich production (the notorious Swiss producer responsible for Jess Franco's sleaziest films) was sold in the English-speaking world as "Come Play with Me 2", a sequel to the (somewhat) more famous British Mary Millington vehicle "Come Play with Me". This has absolutely nothing to do with the other film though other than it uses the same horrible theme song (at least in the English version). Rather than featuring Millington, Suzy Mandel or other English no-clothes horses, this has a cast of French actresses like former hardcore star Brigitte Lahaie and Jess Franco regulars Karine Gambier and Nadine Pascal. Lahaie, at least, is a far better actress than Mary Millington, et. al., but you would never know it from this three-hanky, weasel-milking, time-waster.The plot, as it were, concerns a sexually repressed "aunt" (Karine Gambier) living on a country estate with her two nymphomaniacal "nieces" (Brigite Lahaie and Nadine Pascal), who when they're not having lesbian sex with each other, are going at with the male farm hands or their respective fiances.(In typical porno fashion Gambier, Lahaie, and Pascalall look pretty much the same age, so it it is pretty arbitrary that Gambier is the "aunt" while the other two are the "nieces"). There are also two frisky chambermaids who are doing pretty much the same thing as the other young women . Naturally it isn't long before Gambier's "aunt" gets in on the action (you can tell she's starting to come out of her shell when she starts fellating an ear of corn while spying on a shirtless farm laborer).Although strictly softcore, this movie nevertheless suffers from all the same liabilities as hardcore porn. There is little talent in evidence either behind or in front of the camera (Brigitte Lahaie's later superior work for directors like Jean Rollin not withstanding). And the constant, numerous sex scenes pretty much push out anything else of any interest. This not nearly as sleazy as some of the films Deitrich made with Franco, but it also far less entertaining. Naturally Lahaie, Gambier, et. al. have nice bodies and they are pretty much constantly on display, but since most of these actresses have probably done hardcore, this relatively tame movie will probably disappoint even their fans, and it will bore the holy hell out of anyone else. The only thing this really achieves (and, believe me, it's quite an impressive feat) is to make the "original" "Come Play with Me" with seem comparatively entertaining.

This is a nicely photographed softporn feature from the time when the girls had to show a bit more to keep the punters interested - as a result the female cast comprises of regulars of French porn flicks.Although there had been rumours of hard porn versions of Dietrich's films from this era, they seem to be largely unfounded. Except that the full length version of this film contains several labia showings which would have had to be cut for certain markets, e.g. they are missing in the UK version.Dietrich does not even attempt to get any acting out of his cast (although at least Brigitte Lahaie and Cathy Stewart are quite capable in that department), he just goes for the looks. In several scenes a dialogue is dubbed to the film, although quite clearly nobody is speaking at the moment - this is so blatant that it looks deliberate, a bit of self-mockery. In the German language version Dietrich pursued this strain of self-mockery by having some original text from Guy de Maupassant (the original inspiration for this film) read to comment on rather less sophisticated scenes. The English language version lacks this little intricacy.Overall, the film is pretty to look at - pretty girls, pretty scenery, pretty fruit blossoms , Dietrich is obsessed with this stuff], and male actors with pretty well-developed muscles. But there is no real story, not the slightest bit of tension, the film is not going anywhere.