It's too measured and artful to call Teen-sploitation, too languid to get a rise out of a drive-in movie crowd assembled to glance at biker movies in between the heavy petting......and too remote, distanced and observational to even qualify as a cautionary tale......
But the movie's elements certainly provided ad campaign hucksters with plenty of surefire come-ons to lure in the suckers.......plentiful nudity from American starlet Mimsy Farmer, kicking off a prolific European career after toiling in low budget USA teen swill.....lots of hot Spanish sun and blue water for Mimsy to romp around in......and a slew of songs from no less than Pink Floyd.
Our feckless lead, German college grad Stefan (Klaus Grunberg), wanders around Europe until he collides with fetching free spirit Estelle (Farmer, blonder than the sun...) It's lust at first sight and then it's off to dazzling Ibiza for our two crazy kids.......where Estelle swipes a stash of heroin from the shady old German guy she sometimes......uh....hangs out with.
Disregarding warnings about Estelle's destructive nature, Stefan soon finds himself hooked on 'Horse'....(the last time we heard heroin referred to as 'Horse'....was probably in this movie, we think...)
And that's about as much as what's worth describing......you can take in the luscious scenery, masterfully photographed by Nestor Almendros......and delve into the mysteries of Mimsy Farmer, who never appears to be acting much......until suddenly you realize...she is. She's the dark, twisted version of that favorite of Hollywood trope.......the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl......a depraved Holly Golightly. And we defy you to take your eyes off her in any scene she's in.....
A fascinating one-time view, but only for completists who treasure 60's and 70's cinema...(of which we plead guilty...) 2 stars (**)......now pardon us while we drool over postcard photos of Ibiza.....
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