Madame Olga (Helga Line) runs an illicit brothel in London procuring underage girls and training them to service her wealthy clients. (If you thought the title was referring to her eyes, you were way off.) One of Olga’s young prostitutes, Tina (Eva Lyberton) dies after a romantic rendezvous with a rich john, who naturally wants to sweep the incident under the rug to avoid a scandal. When Tina’s friend Rafael (Jorge Gonce) comes around asking questions, Olga cannily offers him a job scouting new girls rather than have him making trouble for her business. A conflict of interest arises once Rafael meets Olga’s latest pupil, Lavinia (Marie Harper). She wants Lavinia converted to a life of prostitution, but Rafael wants her all for himself.
As far as I can tell, this has no connection to the Olga movies of the ‘60s. I don’t know if it was retitled to cash in on the nostalgia factor or if it was just a happy accident, but at least the main character’s name is Olga, so it’s not one of those Wanda/Ilsa the Wicked Warden deals. (It does, however, appear to have been retitled in the late ‘80s as “Sex Academy”, no doubt to cash in on the popularity of Police Academy.) It’s not anywhere near as twisted as the Olga franchise from the ‘60s, but it’s a pretty good early ‘80s skin flick.
Despite the sleazy premise, it’s all handled in a very proper and classy manner by director Jose Ramon (Vampyres) Larraz. He films everything in his typically arty style, which kind of runs against the grain of the lurid plot. Sometimes the doldrums creep in now and then, but there’s plenty of nudity to go around, so that’s a plus. Larraz gives us shower scenes, sex scenes, lesbian scenes, voyeurism… you name it… he’s got it. (The sequence in the “saddle room” is especially memorable.)
Sure, the plot is thin, but the focus is soft, and the breathing is heavy, so who cares? I will say the ending is abrupt and a bit unsatisfying. Then again, if that’s what Larraz had to do to keep the running time down to a tight seventy-seven minutes, then I guess I can live with it, right?
AKA: Sex Academy.
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