Private Castings 5: Vivienne Hard and Sweet Review

Castings 5:
Vivienne - Hard & Sweet
Private
Directed by Pierre Woodman
Starring: Vivienne, Liona, Lana Cox, Deborah, Tatjanna, Olga, Lydia, Ouan, Mame
Running time: 2hrs

After a slow and belated start, the re-issue of Pierre Woodman's Casting series on DVD continues apace, with several titles now coming out monthly to speed the catch up with a VHS series now in the 30s.

Despite comprising a collection of archive clips, this is not a compilation series as such - it's about seeing Private starlets in audition clips, originally intended for Pierre's reference rather than public consumption, which make a conveniently commercial sideline as well as a handy companion to Woodman's feature output. So forget about perfect make-up and great costumes, forget the exotic locations - these are, and make no mistake about this, roughly photographed interview clips from hotel rooms and apartments, accompanied by on-set footage from Private magazine photo shoots and the occasional excerpt from Private features in order to whet the fan's appetite for more of the girls. And naturally we can't forget one of Pierre's infamous initiation vignettes where he personally takes a young hopeful in hand. So let the castings commence…

Liona
22-year-old French dancer Liona, with short red hair, a slim figure, pert tits and a cute ass, is perhaps not the most attractive girl but her confident, vivacious manner and engaging attitude turn this into one of the most fascinating and revealing interviews that I've seen in this series. She reveals some eyebrow-raising statistics during an in-depth discussion with Pierre of her extensive sexual experiences, from masochism to a typically French (kidding) ménage a trois to something that I won't reveal in polite company, and revealing a more pragmatic attitude to anal - she's prepared to tolerate it. At this stage Pierre is only talking about photos, not video.

Talking of photos, the next thing we see is Pierre, Liona and crew heading into the jungle for a shoot where she gets down in the undergrowth with three guys and dozens of mosquitoes. Like most of these on-set photo shoot scenes, it has limited appeal sexually as everyone has to stop to pose for pics, even if the sex is real and does include anal, DP and facials.
Interview: France, March 1993. Photo shoot: Pirate 2.

Lana Cox
Having established a successful career as a popular men's magazine model in the UK, where she now lives, Lana's clip is particularly intriguing to me. I gather she has some desire to distance herself from a hardcore past as she seeks to acquire a more "legitimate" public image for a new career path. At the time of this interview, conducted in English but suffering poor sound, lovely Lana is actually 25, but happy for Pierre to describe her as younger. It's clear that the savvy Ms Cox has already come forewarned about Pierre's sweet talk and games - anal is out of the question and she's only prepared to do one-on-one scenes.

So Lana is far from being the little ingénue that Pierre would doubtless have preferred, but she strips to show her fine figure and it's enough for Pierre to cast her in an office scene from The Tower. It follows, appearing horribly edited. Sexy Lana is called to account by David Perry and the lingerie-clad lovely ends up being shafted over the desk. The British Girls Adult Film Database (she's an honorary Brit!) suggests Lana actually used a body double for the anal sex here - certainly the way that shots have been framed would tend to fuel such a suggestion. Answers on a postcard, please. Still, Lana looks hot and it's nice to see her take a come facial. This is a clip of better picture quality than is sometimes the case in Castings.
Interview: Russia, November 1994. Sex scene: The Tower, Paris, November 1994.

Deborah
This slim, pretty Russian 22-year-old nurse (she offers help of a room at the hospital and a nurse's uniform, perhaps these were used for Svetlana's naughty nurse shoot in Castings 4) has her short red hair in a bad style, but her winning smile shines sweetly through her mild embarrassment at Pierre's rude magazines and impertinent questioning. Performing the acts as in the magazines may pose her a problem, but stripping for the camera doesn't and why should it - she's got a great little body to show. Just the come shots from a magazine shoot feature in the behind the scenes clip - Deborah looks absolutely gorgeous (long, luxurious brunette curls now frame her lovely face), still smiling sweetly as two chaps spunk on her face while she cheerfully follows Pierre's instructions via an interpreter.
Interview: Russia, September 1994. Photo shoot: Private 133.

Vivienne
Cover girl Vivienne looks distinctly different in interview - the plump, sweet-faced redhead is a Hungarian student, who's able to converse in English with Pierre (poor sound, though), flips through a magazine, admits to not liking girls but has tried anal - "It was shit!" she says. Not literally, I trust. Revealing a pleasant, curvy body, her big boobs take Pierre by surprise. From what I could catch she had already done three films before, so presumably her experiences that we see from an on-set clip at a shoot for the Triple X video series, and further a medical themed photo shoot, would be nothing to difficult for her. In both cases, she takes on three guys, with anal, DP and facials all pleasant and correct, though the picture is very grainy.
Interview: Budapest, March 1995. Sex scene: Triple X Video 6. Photo shoots: Triple X 11.

Tatjanna
Attractive brunette Tatjanna is 19 has a few giggles about Pierre's magazines, but Woodman just wants her to strip - he'll talk about cash later (off-camera, which is a pity because that's the part they really should have on film). She's tall and slim, has nice boobs and his happy to pose and answer questions, though as always the translations leave something to be desired and the interview ends before we hear her fantasies. There are some nice highlights of a photo shoot where she takes on two guys and ends up with a dick in her ass (DP too) despite her professed dislike of anal, and a pair of profuse facials too.
Interview: Russia, June 1994. Photo shoots: Triple X 3.

Olga
In a studio-based casting, nearly ten years old, pretty model Olga (whose stated name sounded different) has eighties style, ruffled big hair but a nice face and an easy manner. A few giggles at the rude questions and a stated preference for erotic rather than porn work don't stop her getting down to business - she strips and poses, and this is followed up with a clip from a very early Private Video Magazine, where she takes two chaps in a scene that has a certain raw, almost amateur appeal, but really terrible picture quality. The interview is actually worse, with frequent blips and break-up as to suggest it should have stayed in Pierre's archive. No matter how much interest this may (or may not) be to fans, should Private really ask people to pay money for this?
Interview: Russia, December 1992. Sex scene: Private Video Magazine 2, Russia, January 1993.

Lydia
In this same hotel room as Nikki Anderson's debut, 18-year-old brunette student and model Lydia proves a tough nut to crack. Her initial reaction is one of disdain - "Only prostitutes do this kind of thing", she opines of Pierre's mags - but soon it emerges that, surprise, surprise, she is a virgin and has only given blowjobs - it's the Clinton definition of sex. It might be unfair of me to suggest that she appears to have little personality, but she is very reserved. She finally reveals her slender, tanned body. Call me an old romantic, but I can't help feeling that if she really is waiting for Mr Right, then it's kind of heart breaking that she ends up being fucked senseless by the hairy French film director, all for the sake of a small part in Tatiana.

Anyway, next thing you know the reluctant miss Lydia is on her back, legs spread with Pierre's face between her thighs. A static camera catches him spending quite some time eating her and fingering her. Cynics can scoff, but there's nothing fake about her toe curling reaction as he slips his cock into her, her legs flexing in the air deliciously as he moves in her and she clings to him. Thereafter he soundly fucks her in missionary, receives a dainty blowjob, whacks her lovely little bum in a vigorous cowgirl ride, and then slips his thumb into her ass. He's done a good job of relaxing her, judging by her beatific facial expression (though we don't see enough of her face but too much of Woodman's red, straining mug) when he slowly, gently eases his prick into her ass. He picks up the pace for some firm anal sex that has her clutching the sheets, and then it seems that, if his animalistic howl is any guide, he came inside her ass. All in all, it's pretty good stuff.
Interview and initiation: Budapest, June 1997.

Ouan and Mame
There are actually three girls present, flipping through Private mags in a hotel room, but only Ouan and Mame of this Thai trio present themselves for a strip and some typical questions. Mame has a cute body but seems none too keen on many of the key components of Pierre's work, while Ouan is also very cute and much more willing. I am not entirely sure, however, that they and Pierre are on quite the same wavelength.
Interview: Bangkok, October 1993.

Overall
Again, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that this series has limited appeal. People can and will debate the veracity of some of the set ups, but the older clips were very obviously of such basic nature that there's no reason for them to be anything other than genuine (I actually don't know why I am bothering to even mention this, it's so far beyond doubt) as Pierre would only be fooling himself. Perhaps once the series was launched in 1997 and Pierre's castings moved into the public, and commercial domain, then the temptation to bastardise the concept became stronger. Speculation aside, Castings 5 undeniably offers some very interesting interviews, if not the strongest line-up in the series, and some behind the scenes clips that in truth reveal little new but are good fun to watch.

DVD Comments
As I have already detailed, the picture quality varies from average, to poor, to downright unacceptable, even when bearing in mind the essentially primitive nature of the casting format. The audio is also lacking at times, making the interviews hard to follow, and that's not to mention the inadequate translations. I'll keep banging the drum for subtitles for all translations - the raft of audio language and subtitle options offers only variations on Private's supplied translations, which are not comprehensive. Private have done a great job of linking the girls profile with the casting scenes and supplying the photo shoots illustrated by behind the scenes clips where possible. There's also a four-minute interview clip of Woodman, dating from 1997, where he blows his trumpet about the success of his castings formula. Trailers and some limited DVD Rom material rounds out the package.