Fatal Desire (Desir Fatal) Review

Distributor: Wicked Pictures/Marc Dorcel Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Foreign, Mystery Also known as: Désir Fatal Run Time: 115 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2000 Director: Serge de Beaurivage (as Mike Foster) Written by: Didier Philippe-Gerard (as Michel Barny) Cast: Dora Venter, Dolly Golden, Philippe Soine, Nomi, Bruno SX (as Bruno Aissix), Marc Barrow, Cristina Bella, Rumika Power (as Rumika), Monica Moore, Princesse Elisa, Ian Scott, Horst Baron (as Horst P. Horst), Sebastien Barrio (as Sebastian Barrio), Pascal St. James, Thomas Santini, Linda, Céline Kasia (as Céline), William Le Bris (as William Lebris), Victor Willis Release Specs: Audio: French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed) Subtitles: Portuguese, Greek Video: Widescreen, 1.85:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: none DVD-ROM Special Features: Biographies, Photo Gallery, Making of, Fun Fun Sex, Sex Reportage, Trailer, Internet, Hardcore/Softcore Reversible Cover

Synopsis:
A writer is having a party in his expansive house. During the festivities, a woman ends up being murdered. A detective, who happens to be in attendance, gathers the attendees together and proceeds to go through the events of the night to ferret out the murderer.

Video/Audio:
Fatal Desire is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio, 1.85:1, which is the original aspect ratio for the film. This print is in beautiful shape with not an artifact or blemish present. The color levels are set perfectly and the picture is crisp and clear.

The original audio track for the film is a 5.1 French Dolby Digital Surround track that is lively and full of energy. Unfortunately, since I don't understand a bloody word in French, I had to listen to the 2.0 English Stereo dub track, which did not have the energy of the original French track. This track had a flat sound to it and the voices were at a much lower level. Some of the voice overs were really poor choices as they way they spoke had me cracking up. The dialog can always be heard over the sound of the music. Other available audio tracks are a 2.0 German Stereo dub track, a 2.0 Spanish Stereo dub track, a 2.0 Italian Stereo dub track and a 2.0 Polish Stereo dub track and the available subtitle options are Portuguese and Greek.

Chapters/Time Code:
There are nine chapters available from the main menu for Fatal Desire, one for the beginning of each sex scene. They allow for decent navigation through the film, unfortunately this is your only navigation through the film since there is no time code for this feature.

Special Features:
“Making of Fatal Desire” is a 20 minute feature presented in widescreen that shows in depth how the film was made unfortunately, it was only in French. “Fun Fun Sex” is a funny French advert with animated condoms for what appears to be a movie. “Sex Reportage” which appears to be a piece on actress Mélanie Coste that lasts for 10 min. The trailer is the trailer for the feature presentation in widescreen. Biographies are some text write-ups in French and English for Nomi, Monica Moore, and Dolly Golden. Internet is an advert for the Marc Dorcel Internet presence. Photos contain 20 photos from the feature presentation that you flip. Hardcore/Softcore Reversible Cover, the DVD cover has two sides, one with hardcore scenes and the other without.

Review:
Fatal Desire, Désir Fatal being its original foreign title, is made by Marc Dorcel and distributed in the great US of A by Wicked. The film is done, very successfully, in the style of Agatha Christie's Hercule Pirot books and movies. The story is excellent, it has more depth than many of the recent films that I have seen and the cast even does a decent job of playing their parts.

Speaking of the cast, the women in this film are beautiful, very beautiful. And the sex in the film is hot and very well done. The sex is nastier than some people might like with vaginal, anal and oral sex with male to female anal rimming and DP. The scenes have a nice variety to them so you aren't seeing the same thing over and over again. The cast interacts well with each other, which always helps.

The sets are wonderfully designed as well. The mansion is beautiful and fits the film perfectly. At no time does a poorly designed set destroy the mood for the scene. There is also an excellent outdoor sex scene in the rain that is sure to please. The lighting design is great as well. The lighting in the film is very unique and I enjoyed how it made the scenes look. It is also refreshing to see an adult film released in its original widescreen ratio.

The only parts that I didn't like were that there was no English dub track for the “Making of Fatal Desire” piece, rendering it useless to those who don't speak French. The disc doesn't have a time code, making you rely completely on the chapter stops for navigation. And that there is no English subtitle option so that you can view the film with the original language track and still understand what is being said. So close to perfection.

The Money Shot:
Fatal Desire is an excellent French adult film that I recommend to those who like nastier sex with a plot. As the plot is in depth, those who dislike a plot might not enjoy this film and those who don't like nastier sex, anal, etc, will definately dislike this film. If it sounds like you will like this film I definately recommend that you rent or purchase, probably purchase since you'll want to watch this more than once.

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