''The Lickerish Quartet'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: ''Esotika Erotika Psicotika'') is a 1970 erotic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

produced and directed by

Radley Metzger Radley Metzger (also known as Radley Henry Metzger, Radley H. Metzger and by the pseudonyms, "Jake Barnes", "Erich Farina" and "Henry Paris") (January 21, 1929 – March 31, 2017) was an American pioneering filmmaker and film distributor, mos ...

. It was filmed in Italian and later dubbed into English. The film was written by Metzger and Michael DeForrest.

Plot

In their castle, a wealthy couple ( Frank Wolff and

Erika Remberg Erika Remberg (15 February 1932 – 10 November 2017) was an Austrian film actress. She appeared in 31 films between 1950 and 1970. She was born in Medan, Indonesia. Selected filmography * '' Laila'' (1958) * ''The Violin Maker of Mittenwal ...

) watch an erotic movie with their adult son, played by Paolo Turco. Later that evening, at a local carnival, they spot a woman (Silvana Venturelli) who appears to be one of the performers in the film, and decide to take her home with them. Although a subsequent viewing of the film calls the woman's identity into question, their house guest quickly succeeds in seducing the various members of the family, resulting in the revelation of certain facts, fears and desires.

Cast

* Silvana Venturelli as The visitor * Frank Wolff as Castle owner *

as His wife * Paolo Turco as Her son

Reception

''The Lickerish Quartet'' received critical praise upon its release by many critics, especially

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

and

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

, as being one of the first films with graphic sex to have Hollywood-like production values.''The Lickerish Quartet'' trailer. Vincent Canby of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

noted: “I must say I find most of Mr. Metzger’s movies entertaining to watch. They are so, well, ripe with incredible color and décor and movement.”

, who helped begin the

Golden Age of Porn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-whitelist/Archives/2018/01#Another_Worthy_Journal_Article_on_Wordpress ---> The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American porno ...

with his 1969 film '' Blue Movie'', was a fan of Metzger's film work and commented that ''The Lickerish Quartet'', was “an outrageously kinky masterpiece”. However, Roger Ebert found the film to be pretentious and the plot convoluted.

Notes

According to one

film reviewer Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

, Radley Metzger's films, including those made during the

(1969–1984), are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a

penchant In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

for the unusual

camera angle The camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The diff ...

". Another reviewer noted that his films were "highly artistic — and often cerebral ... and often featured gorgeous

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

". Film and audio works by Metzger have been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

References

External links

''The Lickerish Quartet''
at

MUBI Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

(related to

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

) *
''The Lickerish Quartet'' – Behind The Scenes

''The Lickerish Quartet''
– director