Fading Gigolo - The SSL Review
I caught Fading Gigolo on Netflix a couple nights ago, and as expected, it was SSL reviewable. There was one depiction of female sexual response, which was actually less than I expected there to be, but enough for an SSL Review. There were no depictions of female masturbation or discussion of lady-gasms, so hopefully a small review.
This movie was written and directed by John Turturro, who also stars as Fioravante, a guy who does some flower arranging 2 days a week and is friends with and possibly worked for a guy named Murray played by Woody Allen. Murray's rare book shop is going out of business, and in a fairly unrealistic and quick set of events Murray gets a chance to set Fioravante up as a prostitute for incredibly rich women. Fioravante needs some convincing, but he does it and is a hit with his clients. There is another strangely unrealistic plot line that involves love and a New York Hasidic Jewish community in a neighborhood Murray visits regularly. I'm gonna be honest. I thought this movie was pretty silly, and I'm not saying that in a complimentary, fun way. Let me just get to the SSL review.
It's a 19 second scene. Dr. Parker, a rich client played by Sharon Stone, is in an expensive looking teddy on her knees in bed facing the camera. She is somewhat uprights holding onto the horizantle bar from her bed frame at the foot of her bed. If is positioned at about the height of her hips. Fioravante is behind her, also on his knees. His hands are on her hips and he seems to be having intercourse with her. She begins with a breathy, moany, "Oh, oh yeah. Oh. I don't care. Oh, Fuck you. Oh" Then she becomes a little more intense with "Fuck you, Claude. Fuck you, Claude." (This is clearly her husband, since they do a push in to a framed picture in front of her that seems like her husband and their dog). Then she starts on the orgasm build-up with some Oh, Oh, Ohhhhhh - which fades through the cut into the next scenes. It was pretty clear that she was getting a good ol' orgasm.
Now, from the description of the position, which doesn't change through the 19 seconds, neither she nor Fioravante have their hands near her vulva/clitoral area, and there is nothing like a bed or some pillows or anything like that touching her pelvis area. Unless, something was happening with that expensive lingerie, this was a depiction of a woman orgasming from stimulation of the penis inside the vagina and nothing more. It's the most common way women are shown to orgasm in our media, so no surprise there, but it is still disappointing. Wouldn't it be nice if the vast majority of female orgasms we saw in our media looked like the vast majority of orgasms that happen in real life? Where's the clit people? Where's the clit?
Particularly in a movie about a man that is payed to please women, wouldn't it be cool to see something less status quo. I know that if I payed a guy to sexually pleasure me, it wouldn't be by fucking me from behind. A dude that will do that is not that hard to come by. I would want a guy that eats me out (and he's good at it because he's a fucking professional), and then, well, he leaves. In this payed situation, there's no need for him to come, you know, I think I'd like to be eating some Cheetos or something while it's happening too, because why the fuck not. I'd like to imagine that's more what an actual paid hetero male prostitute does. He just does whatever it is that the woman likes while she sits back and enjoys it with no worry about reciprocation. Who knows, all I'm saying is if I made a movie like this, it would look way different...and Woody Allen wouldn't be in it. He's annoying as shit.
I give this movie 1 vulva. The vulva comes from there being a short shot of Fioravante's head under the skirt of a beautiful woman standing in front of him. As I said also in a recent post, a little cunnilingus always gets you at least 1 vulva in an SSL Review.
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