My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.
In "La Venexiana", director Mauro Bolognini rides the crest of the wave of Italian audiences' fondness for older woman-accented erotic cinema, while adding an element of class to the commercial equation. Result is a disarmingly simple, technically proficient period romance, which has a strong home market future on the basis of casting two top actresses in the genre.
Based on an anonymously penned 16th Century play (recently revived on stage internationally), feature is set in Venice at a time following the devastation of the Black Plague. Laura Antonelli toplines as Angela, a widow with unfulfilled sexual yearnings who spots a handsome, blond foreigner (Jason Connery) from her window one day and immediately is infatuated with him. The foreigner, in turn, catches sight of Angela's married neighbor Valeria (Monica Guerritore), and is just as smitten with her.
With each of the ladies' maids Nena and Oria acting as a go-between, there ensues a sexual round-robin in which the foreigner ends up satisfying (separately) both ladies' appetites before exiting just in time as Valeria's husband returns home. During the well-timed shenanigans, Angela's maid Nena also gets to do some comforting of her mistress as well as dally with Bernardo, a bearded young man who earlier had used some fast talking to divert the foreigner from a rendezvous with Valeria in order to visit Angela first.
Erotic content of "La Venexiana" is high, while Bologninii opts for lush settings and tasteful photography which avoid pornographic detail. Beppe Lanci's warm visuals and Aldo Buti's period costumes conform to Bologninin'susual high standard of technical quality. Ennio Morricone's music has fun with the kitschy material, segueing smoothly from liturgical music to highly romantic scoring and even throwing in some trademark breathy vocalese.
Laura Antonelli is a delight, playing her scenes of romantic longing straight (leaving the intrinsic humor underplayed) and throwing herself into sex scenes with her usual fervor. Pic might garner he the first U. S. theatrical pickup in several years for Italy's top cinematic export of the 1970s.
Monica Guerritore is overshadowed by Antonelli, but still is effective in a smaller role. Jason Connery projects the kind of raw masculinity of his dad Sean and his acting fits smoothly into the Italian ensemble (with convincing dubbing in Italian by Tonino Accolia). Supporting cast works hard, with a priceless scene in which the maid hands Connery his belongings as he rushes out of Guerritore's apartment (just as the husband approaches) in the manner of passing a baton in a relay race.
