The Girl

Quite a pleasant surprise. I was intrigued to see this 1987 film helmed by veteran Swedish director, starring Franco Nero and Christopher Lee with a young Clare Powney in the 'Lolita' role, but things did not turn out quite as expected. For one, the direction seems a little wayward, particularly in the early scenes but then Arne Mattsson was almost 80 and for another Christopher Lee doesn't appear till the very end. Things do get going, however, when we reach a very out of the way part of Venice and the story begins to take a series of surprising turns. Lots of sex and nudity and a solid performance from Nero (and a plucky one from Powney) help to make this a most enjoyable viewing.