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Just a plug for Gail Sheehy’s book “Sex and the Seasoned Woman” in the context of Harold and Maude. Sheehy doesn’t mention this film but Maude could certainly serve as the mascot for all the women in her book as well as the movie reviewers on our site. Speaking of age, it’s interesting that the selection of Harold and Maude as a Barefoot Aphrodite sensual film for women was made by our youngest reviewer!

Well, I have to say, I was slightly disappointed in “Bright Star.” High expectations are often a problem when you go to see a film. The preview for Bright Star was breathtaking and, remember, Jane Campion’s The Piano is the number one sensual film for women on the Barefoot Aphrodite web site according to our reviewers. 

Bright Star is exceptionally beautiful in its images from beginning to end. The actors are all superb from the starring roles down to the cat, Topper. The poetry (especially the one read by Ben Whishaw–who plays John Keats–over the credits at the end) makes you want to run home, turn off all the noise and have someone read to you. But, honestly, I did not feel the passion between Fanny and John Keats. Part of me wonders if the director meant it to feel that way, if she wanted to portray them as poets in love with the torture of being in love rather than the banal reality (such as is played out by the scullery maid and John Keat’s friend, Charles Brown–played by a very sensual Paul Schneider) but I doubt it. And some might say that audiences are too used to the physicality of modern romance to be satisfied with the “chaste” version in this film but I don’t think that is the case either. After all, the “hole in the stocking” caress in The Piano is just as sensual as any blatantly sexual scene in something like Sex and Lucia. In my mind, the stunning young actors and the director just aren’t successful in portraying the sizzling chemistry and sensuality of forbidden attraction. A perfect example of what could have been can be found in the film version of Pride and Prejudice (A&E, 1995). What crackles between Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle without even a stolen kiss is what is missing from Bright Star.

All that said, go see it. It’s beautiful and the poetry of word and images will sweep you away. And then go home and have some poetry read to you…

Tonight I am going to see Bright Star with two girlfriends–I hope it is as good/sensual as I expect it to be!

When I first began this site, I thought the target age group would be about 30 to 65. When I mentioned this in a business workshop, all the women over 60 and under 30 wanted to know why they weren’t included. My thought was that with age came a certain comfort with sensuality and a certain knowledge of what satisfies the self rather than a constant need for affirmation from men and a constant effort to please the male sex at the expense of one’s own pleasures. While age may bring about a certain seasoning, the reaction to my attempt to qualify the need for a sensual source made it obvious that women of any age are open to the search for what can make their world more sensual and sexual.

But there is a certain seasoning that comes with age that definitely can contribute to sensuality. Yesterday I was searching for a quote to begin a new feature on the site called “Sensual Words of the Day.” I was definitely drawn to the films with older characters when I started looking for quotes and, sure enough, I was rewarded with one from one of the oldest sensual characters on our site. Maude, from Harold and Maude, a ripe 79. The quote? Well, I’m tempted to ask you to check back when the new feature is live but here it is:

“A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They’re just backing away from life. Reach out. Take a chance. Get hurt even. But play as well as you can. Go team, go! Give me an L. Give me an I. Give me a V. Give me an E. L-I-V-E. LIVE! Otherwise, you got nothing to talk about in the locker room.”
 

It sounds like the new Keats movie and the new Coco movie may be a Barefoot Aphrodite sensual movie double feature for the fall. Here is a bit about the Coco movie from The New York Times movie review:

…an unusually vivid and convincing account of the historical past, composed in the present tense. Though its mood and methods are different, “Coco Before Chanel” shares with Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” — another new anti-biopic — a fascination, at once intense and dispassionate, with the lives of women in earlier centuries. Coco and Fanny Brawne, the heroine of Ms. Campion’s film, are not victims of oppression or paragons of resistance but rather individuals, made not of ideology or wishful thinking but of flesh and blood. And clothes of course. Both Fanny and Coco start out as seamstresses with an eye for novelty and a keen aesthetic sense. Coco disdains corsets, sometimes dresses in men’s garments, and adapts simple hats and fisherman’s shirts to marvelously chic effect. The blossoming of her ambition, as much as her love life, drives the story forward, and turns “Coco Before Chanel” into a costume drama worthy of the name. “Coco Before Chanel” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has sexual situations and a lot of cigarettes. No nudity, though, which would be a distraction from all those lovely clothes.   

In August, one of our Barefoot Aphrodites thought it would be fun to have a sensual movie club meeting to celebrate her birthday. The chosen film was “The Painted Veil” and we each brought a Chinese potluck dish supplemented by Chinese takeout. We met at a friends house out in the country and took time to stroll through her beautiful, playful gardens before the movie. After eating and opening presents, it turned out we didn’t have time to watch our full length feature so we watched an odd little 40s film instead, “I Know Where I’m Going.”

 I grew up watching old black and white films with my family and have very sentimental feelings about them. There is something very pure and straight forward about them and, yes, sensual. This film ended with the romantic but star-crossed couple about to part and just as the woman is to go off and get married, she says to the romantic lead, “Would you do one thing for me? Would you kiss me?” You have to love that for a romantic ending.

We haven’t looked at many black and white films for sensuality. For me, a lot of the sensual is in colors that create the mood. But some films actually use black and white to create a sensual mood such as “Terra Estrangeira.” The oldest film in our sensual movies for women archive was made in 1960–it might be worth going back to the 30s and 40s in search of the sensual…

A site visitor to Barefoot Aphrodite wrote asking if I knew the location of the swimming hole in Walk on the Moon where the Viggo Mortensen and Diane Lane characters have their illicit naked swim together. Even though it is rated as the “best swimming hole scene in a movie” on Swimmingholes.info , the actual location of the swimming hole was hard to find. As the movie was shot on location in Arundel, Quebec, Canada, I’m assuming that is where the swimming hole scene was shot. Tracking down the movie location made me think of some of the deliciously sensual locales of many of the movies on our list and how much fun it would be to track them down as well. With vacation time behind us in my neck of the woods and the colder months ahead, wouldn’t it be fun to plan a sensual getaway to some faraway place that was the location of one of our favorite sensual films for women??? More to come…

It’s a given that a movie about two women who love food would be sensual but what a surprise to find out how sassy, sexy and sensual Julia Child was. There was never any doubt that she loved food but she also has an incredible fun and loving relationship with her husband, Paul Child. From their first meal in France together (which Julia Child describes in her book “My Life in France:” “Paul and I floated out the door into the brilliant sunshine and cool air. Our first lunch together in France had been absolute perfection. It was the most exciting meal of my life.”) to their romantic but fun-loving valentine cards to friends to their love and support of each other in hard times, this is a truly sensual relationship between a man and woman. While Julie Powell’s husband, Eric (played by Chris Messina), is very sweet and appealing, their relationship is no match for the depth, wisdom and love expressed in that of the Child’s. It makes you wish someone would make a movie called “Paul & Julia!”

It is nice to find others supporting the theme of Barefoot Aphrodite–that explicit sex scenes in film are not necessarily adequate turn ons for women and that sensuality is more mysterious and provocative. The following is from an entry in “Between the Covers: The Book Babes’ Guide to a Woman’s Reading Pleasures”:

“The X List: The National Society of Film Critics’ Guide to the Movies That Turn Us On, From It Happened One Night to Last Tango in Paris to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls…and Beyond!” edited by Jami Bernard. Explicit sex scenes are not the only cinematic turn-ons according to this compendium of forty film critics. “Words in movies can be as or more erotic,” says William Wold, citing Molly’s soliloquy in the 1967 movie version of James Joyce’s Ulysses. For Bernard it is the musical Bye Bye Birdie that “heaves with sexual subtext.” Put on a happy face, indeed.

 The movies mentioned are not on Barefoot Aphrodite’s list of sensual films for women (and I wonder how many of the critics are women) but they are worth investigating to see if they qualify! “Valley of the Dolls” anyone?!

Summer should be so sensual with sun, warm air and lazy long hours on the beach but sometimes it can be a hectic time of overscheduled outings and juggling fun times with other obligations. And what to do with all those greens in my fridge?! Slow it down. Sit on the porch in the sun. Take time to read a sultry summer novel. Put together a big bowl of all the juicy summer fruits and add the whip cream! Enjoy the summer!

Recently, I have had a strange (or not so strange) desire to pack my bags and head for Italy. What is interesting is that in the last week, two other girlfriends have mentioned heading off to Italy too. That made me think about how sensual that country seems to us Americans and look at the movies on the Barefoot Aphrodite list of sensual films for women to see how often Italy shows up. If we can’t pack our bags, at least we can soak up the sensual vibes of Il Postino, Swept Away, Stealing Beauty or Under the Tuscan Sun. Why not have a summer Sensual Film Club gathering or two and watch them all with lots of Italian food and wine to go along?!