Sort of a softcore reduction of the themes of LA BELLE NOISEUSE, this rather discursive heavy-breather seems to run as long as Rivette's esoteric four-hour opus.
Successful painter-hunk Leo (Bobby Johnston) and his ambitious arriviste wife Karen (Dixie Beck) squabble over integrity, sexual dysfunction, and the husband's artist's block. Feeling underappreciated, Karen goes to the Big Apple, leaving Leo to sulk about the future after he's dropped by a trendy
art dealer. He hopes to put life in his brushstroke by hiring two fresh models, somewhat puritanical art student Beth (Kristen Knittle) whose self-esteem has been smothered by her lover, and Claire (Catherine Weber) financially strapped by a custody battle for her daughter. Over the course of a
few days avec babes, the artist feels his painterly juices simmering until Karen unexpectedly returns and smells a menage a trois. Actually, this non-sexual arrangement works to everyone's advantage as (1) Leo's work revives, (2) Beth stands up for self-determination and uncorsets her libido, (3)
Claire uses her modeling fee to get out of debt, (4) Karen overcomes jealousy and re-attracts her mate's ardor, and (5) Leo stops resenting Karen's management of his career. Karen and Leo become amants once more, the return of his creative potency accomplished without any actual adultery.
The filmmakers seem bent on tasteful sexual release and purifying the usual low-down onanistic atmosphere of titillation with their own idea of decorative smut. But those in need of video stimulus to put bounce in their mattress springs require more than the endless sex prattle here. Conceived in
1990s psychobabble, BODY STROKES boasts the kind of attractive players who only seem to exist in the pages of Playgirl and Playboy; however, audience horniness is never satisfied due to the dull self-absorption of these perfect specimens, no aphrodisiac in or out of bed. If these pretty people
weren't so delectable in their ongoing nudity, viewers would shun them for the cocktail-party bores they really are. Photographed with eye-catching dexterity and drenched in the colors of a Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue, BODY STROKES is burdened by both vapid fantasy sequences and its own
encounter-group mentality. Using this film to get aroused is tantamount to hiring Mother Teresa as your sex surrogate. (Extensive nudity, sexual situations, extreme profanity, adult situations.) leave a comment