Le Rempart des Béguines

A self-consciously 'artistic' film about lesbianism, so coy that one spends much of the time wondering whether the older woman is 'bohemian' - she wears kimonos and has a taste for black Russian cigarettes - or just a high class tart. The story's about a poor little rich girl, only child of a widowed politician, whose furtive emotions blossom at the hands of his mistress, around which Casaril is content merely to weave pretty pictures. They're such an unsympathetic bunch - cold fish of a father (Martin), the mistress (Courcel) overbearing and tetchy, and the daughter (Alvina) spoilt - that with Casaril prepared to take them at face value, it's difficult not to lose interest fast and resign oneself to yet another sex movie.