The Virgin Machine
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: C
The Virgin Machine (1988) stars Ina Blum as
Hamburg, Germany writer Dorothee, who goes on an assignment to discover what
“romantic” love is all about, but runs into her desires to be a lesbian
instead. Not as dramatic as it sounds,
things do not work out so well in her hometown, so she goes all the way to San
Francisco of all places, where lesbianism is somehow easier to learn about.
It is that absurd.
There is nothing too explicit about the film, while the one sex scene is
more like a ballet. It is also a dirty
trick on the part of the person our heroine “hooks up” with, who turns out to
be a hooker, but little does she realize her new “client” will be back to
Germany before she can get money from her.
This happens when she tries to have more of a personal,
intimate life, but her meeting with Susie “Sexpert” Bright is either a help or
hindrance. She meets her in front of a
lesbian performance house, then goes elsewhere with her to an appointment,
after which the Sexpert opens up her briefcase of sex-toys and describes how
they are better than the “old fashioned” way of doing things. It is a new way of “having fun” and
“enjoying yourself with others. What
tries to be a self-help segment feels far more like a bad XXX infomercial. The idea of some personal things being
denounced for latex toys is in itself a problem.
This time, the full screen, black and white picture is in
monochrome. It is not horrible, but
still could be clearer. It still has
nice tones and the gray scale is on the good side, but it is still too
soft. Grain is not as much a
problem. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
a more recent recording and shows, but yet, is nothing spectacular. The same extras of trailers, director
profile, and brief interview with Treut is here as on Seduction, but
that talk gives little insight on where she is really coming from, like her
films.
How this film got its title still did not make sense by
the end of it, but Treut’s second film (first as sole director) is only good
for a few laughs and some camerawork.
Some may find something else here, but the only way the film can live up
to its title is by making everyone uninterested in sex.
- Nicholas Sheffo
