José Ramón Larraz will be best known to film fans for his lesbian vampire film Vampyres, as well as a handful of nasty exploitation films such as The Violation of the Bitch and Black Candles. And Give Us Our Daily Sex is a rather more light-hearted effort from the director, and it's a rather good little film too - though the plot does have a few problems. The film could be described as a sex comedy, although a lot of it is not really played for laughs. The English translation of the original title is "The Periscope" and it's the lead character's periscope that provides the main plot point. Our main character is a young lad that lives in an apartment building. Two young and sexy nurses move into an apartment above his, and as he is experiencing his 'sexual awakening'; it's not long before he starts to want to spy on them; and so builds himself a periscope to do the job. Adding to the central plot are sub plots involving his hair-obsessed father and adulterous mother.
Laura Gemser may not be the greatest actress of all time, but she certainly is one of the hottest; and the material here is not exactly heavy enough to show up her lack of acting skills. Gemser really does what she does best; although the film could have used a bit more skin. I don't know if this film was intended to be a comedy; but if it was then it's not very successful as most of the film is not very funny; only a rather bizarre sequence that sees Laura Gemser give the lead character a hand job would fit into the comedy genre. The central plot is rather well handled and is generally subdued enough to be sexy without becoming exploitative; which would have spoiled what the film was aiming for. The sub-plots are fairly interesting too; the boy's father is moderately amusing while the mother's scheming leads to one of the film's key moments. This is a film that is likely not to appeal to everyone; it's not as hardcore as what Gemser fans will be used to and not as exploitative as what Larraz fans will be used to; but it's not bad for what it is and it's worth a look if you can find a copy.
