LA FIANCÉE DU PIRATE 's greatest asset is the gorgeous Bernadette Lafont, and certainly the sexual favors she bestows (at a price) on her local "clients" as she avenges the killing of her pet goat, and breaks free of near-slave bondage, are easy on the viewer's eye.

Rather dark humor runs right through the film, but that has always been one of Lafont's trademarks, and she is most comfortable in the nude in all her films. Her mother's death and burial is odd in the extreme, adding to the film's general screwball approach. The script is rather loose - to put it mildly -, the characters all seem to be on the verge of madness, photography is rather shabby, and direction... well, Director Nelly Kaplan seems quite satisfied to just let Lafont do what she likes, and it is plain to see that Lafont had a wonderful time doing the shoot.

Only the French, and perhaps the Italians, could have come up with such a rambling oddity of a sexual story... nothing memorable about it, apart from curvaceous, daring, brazen Lafont. How I love watching her!

Some words about the story.Marie and her mother live apart of the village.Marie works for a lesbian farmer who exploits her totally, besides all the men of the village are harassing her.Her mother dies and then she begings charging for her sexual favors: of course all this respectuous men go to church every Sunday and are speaking badly about her.But her revenge will be very hard because she knows a lot of secrets about these men and their family. In this story about hipocrisy in a small village appears a sympathetic man, André, who shows films in the villages of the region and becomes a confident of Marie. Now some words about Bernadette Laffont (1938-2013),this French actress was "the face of the French New Wave "(she has worked with Truffaut,Chabrol, Jean Eustache),a very good actress. His friend André is interpreted by a very famous French actor Michel Constantin who has always had a great sense of humour.

Taken by her performance in the interestingly off-beat A Gorgeous Girl Like Me,I decided to take a look at actress Bernadette Lafont's other credits from the year.Looking round online for other Lafont movies,I stumbled upon one which sounded like a quality slice of French smut… I mean erotica,which led to me getting ready to find out how gorgeous this curious girl could be.

The plot:

Moving to a town in the countryside, Marie and her family are looked down upon by everyone,with all the men secretly groping Marie,thanks to no one listening to a word she says. Whilst cleaning up,Marie gets the tragic news that her mum has died after being hit by a car.Wanting to not see any of the villagers fake tears,Marie decides to bury her mother in the back garden (!) Disguised by how the town has treated her,Marie decides to turn the tables,by becoming the lone prostitute in the village. Used to having their way with her,the married men in the village secretly pay for her services,completely unaware that Marie is planning to show the true face of the village.

View on the film:

Joined by a cheeky Louis Malle as the reverent Jesus, (perhaps an in-joke over the response to Malle's The Lovers?) the very sexy Bernadette Lafont (who appears naked) gives an excellent performance as Marie.Starting the movie nervous and curled up in the corner, Lafont rolls out Marie to reveal a quick-witted pragmatic nature barely hidden behind Marie's risqué clothes.

Looking at the village from the outcast perspective of Marie,the screenplay by co-writer/(along with Michel Fabre/Claude Makovski and Jacques Serguine) director Nelly Kaplan (a women director!) takes a satirical jab at the elite bourgeoisie lifestyle,by cleverly making everyone in the village expose their two-faced morals at the very first sight of the alluring vixen. Whilst offering some naughty flings,the writers mainly lace witty one liners which hit all the men trying to keep their good moral image,whilst secretly playing away with Marie.Soaking the village in a rustic grit,director Kaplan and cinematographer Jean Badal neatly balance the earthy shine by packing Marie's house with odds and ends brilliantly displayed which cast a rich bohemian atmosphere,as Marie reveals how curious she is.