Laura is a young woman living in a mansion with her maid Andrea. She meets and falls in love with Carlos, a man of high society who sees in her a vivaciousness he so longs to have in his life. But little does he know what troubles lie in store for him. Laura suffers from a dangerous case of nymphomania, desiring any man she lays her eyes on.
Conoscenza carnale di una ninfomane, Огонь, 情爱火花
USA
Spain18
Spain
USA
Fuego is just as much a psychological drama about how infidelity destroys relationships/lives as it is an excuse for Isabel Sarli to show off her impressive bosom any chance she gets. 🔥
The first 30 minutes of Fuego are almost indescribably thrilling. Just a year or so after Carne, in which Isabel Sarli plays a character without agency, whose abused body exists only for the violent sexual pleasure of others, here we see her, as Laura, glorying in her own pleasure, and enjoying her own body. It's an incredible first act, full of almost nothing but sex, as Laura eagerly seeks to fulfill her voracious appetites. And director/partner (and, in this case, costar) Armado Bó shoots it all with appropriate awe, taking in not only Sarli's astounding body, but also the joy she finds in it, and celebrating the shamelessness of both Laura's desire and her pleasure.
The final hour, however, is…
An exploitation Rosetta Stone full of writhing seething lust. Now I know where John Waters cribbed both Divine's Female Trouble look, modeling poses, and stop and stare street walking! Fuego burns so hot, Isabel Sarli has to roll around in the snow just to cool herself down! I also like the undercurrent of melodramatic malaise like a good 19th century female awakening novel like Madame Bovary or Return of the Native or. . . The Awakening. Scenes of pure exploitation fur coat slips couple with a frenzied housewife begging her husband to kill her 'cause being so high key horny all the time is TORTURE. Whatta movie!
How do you rate a film that at times is super boring but also has scenes like a woman getting so horny she rolls around in the snow to cool down and her later flashing random strangers while wearing a huge fur coat?
I wanted to see 'Fuego' for years, mainly because John Waters championed the films of Isabel Sarli and Armando Bó as favorites, influences and an obsession of his - and now I can finally see why.
This is everything I hoped for and the exact type of sexploitation camp aesthetic that speaks to me. From the firey opening credits and the spaghetti western-esque theme song I was hooked. As melodramatic as Douglas Sirk crossed with the over the top size of Russ Meyer but also something totally unique.
Isabel Sarli doesn't just look great, she also has a fantastic screen presence. Whether she goes on horney rampages seducing men or begs her husband to kill her as the only cure for her nymphomania, her performance is always engaging and entertaining.
I need to see the other Armando Bó & Isabel Sarli films asap.
New relationship goal: making it with as many strangers as possible while also begging my partner to put me out of my sexual misery by killing me.
If your partner's doctor says, "Your wife suffers from a condition called nymphomania. It's something I've suspected for a long time," the proper response is to punch him not to fire your lesbian maid. One of those have your cake and eat it too (ahem) kind of exploitation movies where it's superficially about the struggles of a woman consumed by her carnal desires which we all know is improper and wrong (now let us watch and see just how wrong it is!!).
Endlich, im Jahre 2022, kam ich zu Isabel Sarli (1929-2019), der argentinischen Erotik-Ikone, die besonders in Amerika (Sued- und Nord) seit der Jahrhundertwende in Kreisen als Kultstar gefeiert wird und in ihrer Heimat eine Beruehmtheit ist. Glaube an Europa ging der Hype ziemlich vorbei.
Gut, und ich begann gleich mit einem ihrer „Signature-Movies“, vielleicht sogar ihrem beliebtesten, „Fuego“ (1969). Naja, und ich fands rundum recht erheiternd.
Story: Laura (Sarli) lebt allein mit ihrer unangenehm aussehenden, aelteren Haushalterin und hat staendig Sex mit ihr. Carlos beobachtet sie manchmal und als er sie komplett nackt sieht verliebt er sich in sie (Sarli’s Titten sind extrem gross) und will sie heiraten. Sie willigt ein aber deutet an das sie ihm moeglicherweise nicht immer…
Perhaps the epitome of demonizing female sexuality and queerness while simultaneously exploiting it for the male gaze.
So poorly made it's nearly fun as there were occasional moments where the absurdity made me laugh, but it mostly just felt like a boring (and deeply hetero-patriarchal) waste of my time.
1st Armando Bó
A big thank you to Lou, who very kindly sent me a copy of this through Discord. I've been fascinated with this film ever since it appeared at a Barbican film series about kitsch something close to 6 years ago, but finding a decent copy has been a chore. Having now seen it, I must report that ultimately, it's a bit rubbish. The dub I saw gave Sarli's performance no favours, reducing her abilities to little more than pouting and rubbing herself sensually on whatever surface she can find. Clearly shot on 16mm film, the whole production has a cheap feeling, filled with awkward cuts and pans trying to maximise the limited resources that Bó had at…
I think this might be the first sexploitation movie I've ever seen. That whole concept feels like such a relic of a lost time now that hard-core porn is available for free for anyone with an internet connection - the idea that people would go along to movies that exist to show naked women and suggest sexual intercourse and go to all the trouble of building a movie around it to justify that - it's just so weird to consider today.
I have to say, though, that Armando Bo's Fuego is a beautiful film. It's so quintessentially of its time, even the scratches in the film feel like a gift. The beautiful Argentinian Andean backdrops set the scene and then,…
I like to imagine this as being Liz Taylor's alternate universe response to Vixen!: lavishly produced, ludicrously melodramatic, and with a total dedication to having Isabel Sarli spend most of the runtime alternately writhing around in nature and begging her husband to end her torment. Totally baffling and wonderful.
Really want to know if Sarli and Bo consulted any actual doctors when they wrote the gynecological exam (!!) that serves as the film's moral square-up.
