Gaia: Les Obstacles Del Amour Review

Reviewed by Speelie  on  8/18/2001

Directed by Christoph Clark Released on DVD 6/2001 (on VHS circa 1997)
Cast: Alison, Miluse, Eva, DominikaBaumanova, Lucie, Michaela, Sylvie (aka Sylvia Saint), Mishi, Kris Newz, Jean-Yves LeCastel, John Walton, Christoph Clark

The Gaia series was Private's attempt to shed some of their hardcore, Euro-anal-fucking image, and collect a piece of the couples' market. This was the first movie in the Gaia line, and the concept was quickly considered a failure, so much so that by the final Gaia movie (#6 Profession: Porn Actress) Clark had already reverted to his usual boyz get their rocks off formula. What this and its successors have in common with Clark's The Perversion of Barbara and the Laure Sinclair movies he shot for Marc Dorcel is that all show his early style.

In the mid-90's Clark, perhaps at the request of his producers, shot fast paced movies, with up to 8 separate scenes in 90 minutes. The focus was on showing pretty women, and the action was usually anal. When Clark joined the Evil Empire during 1997, his style changed, his movies became much more leisurely, with only 4-5 scenes fit into 140 minute running time. Hot Euro chicks remained, but now much of the action involved stuffing their asses full of fingers and toys, rather than cocks.

I mention the above, because this movie will be an unpleasant surprise to those accustomed to Clark's Evil Empire releases. The first problem is that the video is incredibly grainy and poor for a product no more than five years old. That could be partially ignored if the attempt at a plot wasn't so boring and sleep inducing.

As part of this, it takes over 10 minutes before any sex is shown. Up to then, we are introduced to Kris Newz (a man) who own s a club in Prague. He meets his new bar maid, fellow Brit Alison (the cover girl). She's not bad looking, but strangely unattractive. Even so, Kris finds her irresistable, and takes her out for a romantic walk. Back at the club, a stripper pole dances erotically, including under a sprinkling shower head.

After the walk, Alison talks with fellow bar maid Dominika after closing time, until her boyfriend LeCastel shows up to lead her home. They live in an expensive hotel suite (whatever) and at last some sex is shown. Dominika has an ok slender body, and probably had a pretty face once. Here she looks quite worn, like an old hooker who was rode hard and put away wet. LeCastel was in one of his bearded phases when this was shot, and for some reason has a silly perm that looks as bad as Adam Glasser's (that's Seymore Butts, folks). He keeps his clothes on for much of the scene, even though he only got really fat in the following years. Dominika doesn't care, she gobbles his knob eagerly, before straddling him. They go through several positions, looking a lot like a real life couple (not a good thing if you're looking for fantasy...). I suspect that LeCastel has never met a woman in his life that he didn't butt fuck, and Dominika joins the list. Even the energy she shows can't make up for the fact that I simply find her ugly.

John Walton and a guy with a pony tail shoot pool in a private room, and even with Lucie and Michaela watching, the game is boring and goes on far too long. Kris arrives, and claims he won't be drinking. He naturally gets roaring drunk, and meanwhile, Walton is distracted by a prostitute making the rounds. He follows her into the mens' room, where she proves to be a very young Sylvia Saint, making one of first appearances. She's far better looking than any other woman in this movie, and Clark knew he was onto something, making her the star of Gaia #2, Irresistable Sylvie. Sylvia didn't speak English back then (and still has a thick accent today), so it is funny to hear her state her price: "One hunert toller!"

Walton readily agrees (wouldn't you, even for 200 tollers ;-)) so she conspicuously opens a box of Private brand condoms and applies one to his pecker. In this quick scene, he is soon analling her in standing doggy, after which she pulls off the rubber and jerks him off. As she leaves the hotel, she is careful to tip the doorman.
Drunk Kris is seduced by dirty blond, trashy golddigger Eva, so he takes her out to his limo so she can give him a hummer. As this happens, eh dreams of Alison, who wears Pirate video type fetish gear and proceeds to dominate him. This is maybe the best sex in this movie, but is over quickly, without any anal.

Arriving at his club, Kris leaves Eva in the limo, so she comes inside to give him a good slap. Alison sees this, and draws the proper conclusions over what inspired the slap. She thought the boss liked her, and is very upset that she wasn't the one in the limo, even though she was, without realizing it. Dominika comforts her, and the two go out to watch a mle stripper and get colossally drunk. They get a room, give each other boring lez action with lots of fake moaning, and pass out.

There's lots of tension at work on the following days, so Kris finally breaks down and admits to Alison that he has feelings for her. This cures everything, so they go somewhere to have romantic sex in front of a romantic roaring fire, with the scene shot to look like one of those cheesy mood music collection tv commercials. There's lots of romantic foreplay, followed by romantic mish fucking and even more romantic anal. He finally romantically cums on her ass, and they kiss and admit their love for one another. Awwww...

What a crappy excuse for a Private movie. The bonus material includes one more scene which differs in tone from the rest, and thus was edited out of the VHS. In the pool room, Clark has standard boyz are gonna rock sex with a very young Mishi. She's not too attractive here, but does do anal quite easily. With some exercise and much better makeup she went on to shoot some excellent anal scenes in the USA, such as when she and Sylvia Saint took on Sean Michaels in The Voyeur 9.

It wasn't an accident that this is one of the last of Private's older movies to make it to DVD. The short trailer almost makes this look good. The photo book has nice clear behind the scenes shots, and the standard language choices, cast notes, additional trailers, and production notes are included. But Private knew this is a stinker.

Clark lately has been making exceptionally good movies for Evil Angel. He has moved beyond anal toy stories to show really attractive young women having extremely hot sex. Many of these scenes don't include anal, and show a level of sexuality and interaction that is far more romantic than anything in Les Obstacles de l'Amour. All I got from watching this one was a strong desire to rewatch A Bevy of Blondes, Euro Hardball 12, and Hey Babe, Nice Tits.

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Speelie@my.adultdvdtalk.com