THE BLUE HOUR (1971) **

Tania (Ann Chapman) is unable to get it on with her boyfriend on the beach.  He tries to understand where her head’s at and she relates to him her entire sexual history.  She works as an artist’s model, gets accosted by her horny Greek uncle, attacked by bikers, and used by just about anyone who comes in contact with her.  The longest flashback recalls her teenage years living with her mother on a small island where her mating prospects are slim to none.  (“There’s nothing on this island but goats and old men!”)  That all changes when a young priest catches her eye, but like all her conquests, it too will end in tragedy.

The Blue Hour is a slow moving, sometimes dull affair.  It’s short on exploitation goods and long on amateurish artsy-fartsy aspirations.  The fractured narrative, which consists of lots of flashbacks within flashbacks, is frustrating, and the film hems and haws way too much to be considered effective.  The rapid-fire, ADD editing is probably the worst part, although the long, drawn-out scenes where nothing happens (like the endless belly dancing scene) don’t help either.  

This is more of a psychological profile of a damaged woman with a fragile psyche than an honest to goodness skin flick. If the director’s intent was depressing us instead of titillating us, then mission accomplished.  Still, if you are patient, you’ll be treated to a decent third act where Chapman has an excellent solo girl scene on a bed and bangs the priest on the beach. It doesn’t save the movie or anything, but at least we’re treated to an OK amount of skin.  It’s just a helluva long wait. 

Chapman is quite good and looks rather incredible naked.  Too bad she’s rarely given a chance to display either of her talents.  It’s a shame she didn’t have much of a career because there’s enough evidence here to suggest she could’ve been a minor exploitation star.