Nine Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976) - Abel Ferrara-Erotica Films

17/09/21

Nine Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976) - Abel Ferrara

Nine closely related episodes featuring the erotic escapades of a young New York heiress and the people associated with her.

Wealthy heiress Pauline (Pauline LaMonde) is bored with the "cold detachment" her Husband shows during sex and spends her time in various sexual encounters with other men, and women.

Pauline writes about her experiences to a woman named Gypsy, mysterious opium smoking, Tarot Card dealing ex lover of Pauline's (who talks directly to the viewer about Pauline and their times together).
As Gypsy reads the letters we see Pauline's encounters and learn about her history…..

Ferrara seems to have pretty much disowned this movie, his first feature length production, and tends to say that his first real film was "The Driller Killer". And this is actually a shame as there is nothing wrong at all with his foray into hardcore pornography and in fact the film has many aspects that fans of his work will recognise and appreciate.

After the disconnected opening sex scene (that the film will go full circle back to) the first of Pauline's encounters is with the stable boy. It's pretty much standard stuff except the well-scripted erotic voice over (script by regular Ferrara scribe Nicholas St John who also appears as Pauline's Chauffeur) and the effectively animalistic touch of the sound of snorting horses.

Next up is a wonderfully athletic sequence of Pauline screwing a Garage attendant in the washroom that is suitably energetic and passionate.

We then go to a masturbatory fantasy Gypsy has of a naked Pauline on a shining white floor (scored with funky tunes and Gypsy's orgasmic cries) that is genuinely erotic and perfectly showcases Pauline LaMonde's gorgeous body.

The next sequence famously features Ferrara himself and is Gypsy narrated flashback about Pauline's Puritan, Polish immigrant Great Grandfather (Ferrara, with a bit of grey powder sprinkled in his hair, using his 'Jimmy Laine 'pseudonym) and his two Daughters (with LaMonde playing her own Grandmother).
The Grandfather passes out drunk and is carried to his bed where he is stripped and seduced by his own randy Daughters! "Until sun-up the girls continued to satisfy themselves without regard for their Father. The old man never woke and the whole night remained a secret only between the girls".
Now that's what I call a heavy sleeper!
I'm not entirely sure this actually is Ferrara in the sex scene, as his face is never in shot during any of the sex or even the nudity.

Gypsy then tells us about a Nacala (Joy Sliver) a Nigerian Princess lover of Pauline's; "she was Black magic…a midnight flower".
A comparatively rare mixed race sex scene follows between Pauline and Nacala. A subdued but effective bit of lesbian lovemaking.
This short sequence leads into another flashback of when the Princess arrived in New York (!) that showcases some of that great night-time New York atmosphere.

This is also the most controversial part of the film (and censored in the recent DVD release) as Nacala is raped at knife-point on the stairwell of a seedy tenement. We leave any kind of 'porn chic' behind here as Ferrara jumps right into the kind of rough territory he would later cover in the likes of "Ms.45" and "The Bad Lt.".
Ferrara then drifts from this violent event back to an extended session between the Princess and Pauline (with a marvellously sensual oral scene) that is in complete contrast to the preceding sequence and is all the more erotic for it.

We then switch to a dreamy lovemaking session between Gypsy and Pauline, where Gypsy suddenly becomes a man, which is intercut with Gypsy walking topless through sun dappled woods, scored with a wonderfully effective, minimalist score and voiced with Pauline reading her own letter to Gypsy, "I gave myself to you…and you took me…and kissed me". Another solid well made hardcore sequence with a passion filled climax.

There then follows a weird twist at the end the film too lead us into the credits which are mixed with the writhing form of Pauline on the white floor.

Ferrara keeps whole thing moving at a pretty brisk pace and crafts some wonderfully atmospheric and unusual set-up.
The excellent cinematography that compliments Ferrara's direction is by 'F X Pope', who went on to lens the classic "Café Flesh" and Ferrara regular Joe Delia provides the mixed bag of a score made up of some really effective cues (like the aforementioned minimalist score) and some rather cheesy funk/rock ditties.
And I'm sure that Max Weinberg, drummer with Bruce Springsteen and Musical Director of the "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" TV show does not bring up the fact he was one of Delia's musicians at dinner parties!

Some of the sex scenes go on too long, with certain shots (mostly blow jobs) being held past their interest point, but this pretty much comes with the territory where hardcore porn is concerned, but luckily most of the sex is passionate, well staged and performed and so this is a minor fault in what is otherwise a deliciously different and classy slice of 70's pornography with many fledgling hallmarks of Ferrara's later work on show.