Racy Reels Vol. 3: I A Woman 2 / The Dau — I A Woman 2 / The Daughter: I A Woman 3

After a year or two away here's the most welcome return of Something Weird’s Racy Reels series- that uncovers more quirky, themed, or slightly twisted examples of soft-core cinema from the past. For this third Vol, we get two Danish/ Swedish co-production from the late ’60s/ early ’70s which I guess you'd class as erotic dramas/ thrillers. The region free blu ray takes in new prints of the films, a commentary track from respected critic Tim Lucas, and an inlay booklet.

The two films here are direct sequels to 1965’s I, a Woman ( aka Jeg - en kvinde) which became somewhat of an erotic hit with its then fairly shocking portray of frank female promiscuity. The film focused in on young nurse Siv- she comes from a controlling religious background, and is due to marry her rather dull Sven. One day she meets Heinz, a married antique dealer who flirts with & seduces her, having an affair that opens her to Sexual liberation. The first film here I, a Woman, Part II follows the story of Siv, who is now married to Heinz, and the second film The Daughter: I, a Woman Part III follows the sexual awakening of Siv's daughter.

So first up we have I, a Woman, Part II- this appeared in 1968. It was directed by Mac Ahlberg, who also directed I, a Woman – going onto direct a spate of 1970’s erotic films such as Around the World with Fanny Hill & Second Coming of Eva- before going onto become a respected Cinematographer working on both cult fare like Re-Animator & bigger action-comedy fare like Beverly Hills Cop III. The film begins in a bright light sensual manner as we see Siv(Gio Petré) soaping herself up/ then washing her self down over the credits, then as with the rest of the film we get a nice tonal shift- as we find Siv berating her cold & selfish husband in the grand apartment- debtors keep knocking on the door, and when she rings Heinz(Lars Lunøe) her antique dealer husband at his shop to complain about the none payment he slams the phone down. As the film unfolds we find out Heinz is an arrogant control freak- who as we go on to become more & more cold & unpleasant- first we find he’s taking pictures of Siv wearing nothing but jewelry & showing them to selected customers. Then one night, after buying Siv a revealing dress, he makes her sleep with one of his clients in front of him as he cool stares on. Siv decides to returns working as a nurse to pay off the debuts Heinz is mounting up- but he takes her wages from her to spend on a ming vase. While working at the hospital she finds love with Dr. Leo (Klaus Pagh)- and we switch back and forth between the more loved-up & passioned encounters between them, and the more sleazed & unpleasant encounters Heinz arranges including women on women action. The films is well-filmed & good enough acted slice of erotic drama with slight thriller touches- there’s a chest in the Siv & Heinz that seemingly hides something from the antique dealer, his cool & uncaring mother lives in a flat above the pair, and we get two surprising reveals towards the end of the film.

 

The Daughter: I, a Woman Part III( aka 3 slags kærlighed) appeared in 1970, and is more drama/coming of age story with softcore/erotic touches.  The film opens once again with a prologued & fleshy credits- but this times things are a lot more tippy, as we see a naked woman sensual jiving in a barely lit room- this is largely filmed from above through either rain or snow showed glass ceiling, from time-to-time we get flame or lulling orange tones added to the fleshy jiving… just at the end of the sequence we get the addition of a black adder & another naked woman, then seemingly panic- as we realize we’re watching a trip go bad for a young woman who's been held down by several doctors & nurses. Then we drop into the main/lead characters of the film we have Siv- this time played by Gunbritt Öhrström, and Dr. Leo- once again played by Klaus Pagh who seems a little middle age & hunched. The pair are still carrying on their affair- and we see Dr. Leo going to Svi's flat with whiskey & sex toys…fairly soon the pair are getting it on when Svi seventeen-year-old daughter Birthe returns- played by Inger Sundh who has a Chloë Grace Moretz vibe to her. She is appalled by her mother's behavior – and later when on her own she finds nude pictures of her mother & her anger grows. She tearful rushes from the flat to a grooving downtown club, where she meets various brutish & manipulative men, in time she is taken home by young African American doctor Stephen( Tom Scott) after a group of bikers smash up the club- he lives with his go-go dancing sister, and fairly soon the pair are both trying to bed Birthe. Adding another twist to the story Doctor Stephen works with Siv & of course sees the erotic picture of her. The film feels very 1970’s with its great mellow-to-grooving soundtrack that goes from heady 'n' lulling blends of guitar & harmonica, jiving jazz, and jazz-funk mixes. We get a mix of hippies & bikers in the clubland- with a realistic blend of mellow, sleazy & violent patrons. The softcore moments are a lot more sparse & played down her, though we do get a lengthy lesbian scene, and male/ female action. We also get an interesting racial edge added to the film with Doctor Stephen trying to get on in the Danish city been both black & American. On the whole the films a most worthy 70’s a drama with light erotic touches, some great music, and a neat continuation of the whole Siv saga.

The HD restorations of each film looks good enough- sure at times the prints are a little grainy & gritty in places, but the colors look bold & bright- though with both films the sound- music/ dialogue mix is great. Each film is dubbed by American actors, and by exploitation standards, they are not bad at tall. Moving onto the extras & we get a commentary track on the first film- this is by respected genre critic/ commentator Tim Lucus, and as always it’s most informative & worthy track- he starts off talking about its production background & how when the film came to states. He moves onto giving in-depth bios of each actor as they appear on the screen, discuss the film setting been Swedish Gothic. Moving onto talking about the action on screen & some of the deeper meaning/ subtext behind what's going on- so a very much worth a play. Other extras wise we get trailer & outtake reel for Part II, a general racy reel promo reel, and an inlay booklet with a new essay from Tim Lucus- unlike the other release in this series this just is a region free Blu Ray, not duel DVD/ Blu Ray.

It’s certainly great to see the Racy Reels series returning again- and both films are up to the great standard of Vols 1 & 2, and you get a good enough selection of extras. Let us hope we won't have such a long wait for Vol 4. Really if you enjoy more moody & drama fed sexploitation you’ll be needing to pick this up.