Butterflies

Here it is. The softcore film to end all softcore films. The softcore film so hard it’s almost hardcore. I mean, the hardcore film that’s so sensual, it must be softcore. Huh? Well, which is it? In the same year that the general public around the world was introduced to softcore via the original Emmanuelle, Joe Sarno reached the apogee of his creative career with Butterflies, a hardcore film shot like a softcore. Or is a softcore tipping over into hardcore?  I don’t know. It’s up to you to decide.

Butterflies is a very simple story about a country girl and her sexual awakening. When we first see Denise (Marie Forsa), she’s having sex with her boyfriend Fred (Eric Edwards). But Denise is sad. “I’m bored,” she sighs. “Its this damned village with its damned narrow minded people.” She spends all day doing chores on her aunt’s farm, and hates every minute of it.  After having about half a Kama Sutra’s-worth of sex with Fred, she asks him to run away to Munich with her. “Don’t be silly,” he laughs, thinking she’ll never go.

But the next day, she’s gone. She hitchhikes and runs into Frank (Harry Reems) a man-mountain of 1970s testosterone with the giant mustache and penis to prove it. He’s a brusque, sexist asshole. He’s got a young girlfriend at home already, but he moves Denise in anyway. Verina, his girlfriend, is horribly ignored and drinks because of it, and must make do with standing in a doorway watching the two of them have sex.

Reems’ fucking style isn’t exactly romantic; he basically pounds away at double speed at whatever hole happens to be nearby. I can’t figure out whether to describe it as like a jackhammer, or like a jackrabbit, but either way, he’s jacked.  His appearance makes an unusual change from the generally female-centric Sarno ensemble.  This is Reems’ movie, on-screen and off, as we shall see presently.

The plot sort of peters out after this, as Frank has sex with everything that moves, and Denise has to decide whether to sit back and take it meekly, like Verina does, or take it as a lesson learned, and move on.  But who’s here for plot? Butterflies is a sex film stripped to its minimal element: sex. All the sex scenes are long, and all of them—yes, all of them—are hardcore.

Hey wait, isn’t this Softcore Reviews?  Sure, but in answer to the question above: this movie really is both.  There isn’t anything quite like Butterflies in the history of cinema. Other Sarno movies from this time period have real sexual activity in them (Laura’s Toys, Girl Meets Girl, Vampire Ecstasy), but you kind of have to guess at it, since it’s not explicitly shown. I understand that some viewers, especially those in this age where every camwhore must timestamp every shoe-on-head pic to prove she’s real, can find this frustrating and confusing. Are they doing it or not?? I can’t tell!

In Butterflies, you get just enough to satisfy your curiosity. It may just be a glimpse here and there, but its enough to prove they’re doing it. They’re really doing it. Sarno’s camera is handheld, and he exploits the Steadicam like he invented it: his favorite move is to establish the full frontal action of the sex then swoop in for a closeup of Forsa’s ecstatic, angelic face. Once you establish that they’re really fucking, then you can enjoy watching Forsa’s orgasm, knowing that it’s very real.

You know, 9 Songs or All About Anna are late to the party; Butterflies explored real sex in mainstream cinema long before either of them.  And what’s the difference between this film and critically-acclaimed art-house fare like Paul Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight, or Catharine Breillat’s Un Vrai Jeune Fille, both of which appeared about the same time as Butterflies? I’ll tell you what’s the difference: Butterflies is better.

Softcore (like film itself) is, in its very nature, fake. It’s about fooling you into thinking the actors are actually doing it when they’re not. Butterflies is above that slight-of-hand. When we’re complimenting Marie Forsa’s “performance,” we’re not saying she’s a great actress, we’re actually congratulating her on having earth shattering real-life orgasms. This is a point sure to roil any actor, actress or director involved in softcore, who insists on the professionalism of their craft, and I apologize for making it.  Hey, no one loves the softcore genre more than us here at Softcore Reviews (duh!), but we can’t help getting giddy about those special scenes that we think are “extra mile.” In Butterflies, all the scenes are extra mile.

But the beauty of this movie is more than that. The second scene between Forsa and Edwards comes just after we’ve learned how desperately sad her character is in her limiting rural life, and her orgasms speak to that—they’re sad, plaintive, and almost on the verge of crying. It is amazing to watch. Later, when she’s being pounded away by Reems, her look is one of satisfaction; you know, at a really good fuck.

Forsa’s not the only one who does hardcore scenes here. Somehow, Sarno managed to find four other actresses to do the nasty in supporting roles. Harry Reems has sex with all of them, the bastard. Sadly, their character names are uncredited, but the actresses are:  Natascha Verell, the luscious Irene Wendlin,  the British mononomic one-and-done Zoe, and…well, the last one is perhaps lost to history. Word is, Reems is such a stud that he just went with it in the scenes, and none of the girls complained.  Try doing that today—actually, don’t. You’ll probably never work in this or any town again.

Alright Fuggy, shut up already. What parts are hardcore? Okay, fine. Some of these may just be fleeting glances, but they’re there. Eric Edwards’ mouth on Forsa’s pussy underneath a tree at 7:10; Forsa guiding his penis into her vagina, a bit dark, at 22:28; Edwards’ balls visible under a cowgirl Forsa, 25:05; very obvious penetration in doggie style, 26:09 to 26:35, and again around 27:20; more hand-guiding and penetration, 28:55; Harry Reems’ erect penis in shadow at 55:35;  Zoe with Reems’ erect penis in her hand and in her mouth at 1:04:40;  Reems’ penetration of Irene Wendlin, partially obscured by a vase, 1:17:30; penetration of Forsa at 1:22:14, again at 1:24:10; clear penetration of Natascha Verell at 1:35:35. Case closed. Raincoaters, you’re welcome.

But like I said, it’s all hardcore. And it’s all good. Enjoy watching real reactions, real “O” faces, real O’s. Even in XXX hardcore where you are assured the sex is real, how often are you assured that the orgasms are real? There is nothing more fake than sliced, processed American hardcore.

Retro-Seduction’s glorious print includes an interview with Chris Nebe, the German producer of this American/Swedish/German amalgam.  Nebe describes his reservations about working in a “no-man’s land” between hardcore and softcore. There was nowhere else to go but full-on explicit at this point, and so Sarno did. He only made one more softcore movie (Misty) prior to a decade long career devoted purely to hardcore movies, many made just for the money, not for the love of it.

There was plenty of softcore in his career, and plenty of hardcore, but there was only one Butterflies.