Private Gold 44: Riviera 1 Review

Reviewed by Speelie  on  8/23/2001

Directed by Pierre Woodman
Released 4/2001
Cast: Asian Shan, Adrienne Klass, Alexa (aka Krisztina Bella), Angelica Sweet, Christiane de Nerville (aka Nannes Beaumont), Gaby Black, Judit Nemyo, Alain Deloin, Bob Terminator, Chris Lover, Ian (aka Yann) Scott, James Brossman, Pascal St. James

I'm a big fan of much of Woodman's work, and this project sounds tremendously exciting. The previews I've seen feature a gorgeous setting, and the later parts include many of my current favorite actresses. Obviously, this story takes place on the French Riviera, and I wonder what Woodman has in store for us?

We start on a high note, as incredibly pretty, prefectly figured brunette Angelica Sweet arrives at the Cannes train station. She flags down a taxi and is driven around town. Meanwhile, Pascal St. James, his hair frosted to make him seem older, arrives at his fancy home and greets his family. This includes daughter Nikki Blonde, who doesn't have sex until the later installments.

While Pascal and his family eat, maid Asian Shan is sent down to the wine cellar to procure a rare vintage, but can't locate it. Son Ian Scott follows, to find what is taking her so long, and have a bit of fun. She's a tight bodied French girl, with obvious Indo-Chinese ancestry and a plain-pretty face. They have a rather routine, non-anal encounter, and he heads back up to resume his meal.

Bob Terminator sits outside, reading the newspaper, when his wife walks up to give him a "thanks for being you" blow job. She's Christiane de Nerville, a thin, curvy longhaired blonde, who has worked as "Nannes Beaumont" for Christoph Clark in A Bevy of Blondes and Euro Hardball 12. The cast notes claim she is 23, but I'd say she's celebrated several birthdays since then. This is a good thing, she has a sexual grace that 18 year olds can't match. Her sucking is interrupted by the taxi arriving to drop off Angelica, who proves to be her niece, come to visit for a while.

Pascal's older son, James Brossman, drives up to a pier, where his buddy Alain Deloin and girlfriend Alexa (better known now as Krisztina Bella, check her out in The Voyeur 18 and Fresh Meat 11, in particular) await him on a motor boat. They head out to sea, and a fairly standard 3-way develops. Raven haired Alexa is as cute they come, but it is a bit odd to see her with only slightly trimmed pubic hair here, since she usually goes with (as Shannon Elizabeth called it) the "shaved" look. I think I prefer her shaved, but regardless, she has fun. She's quite young (Woodman's casting allegedly was her first sexual experience) and while she enjoys sex in all her scenes, her best performances are with guys like Frank Gun who speak Magyar and can guide her along through the sex. For Deloin and Brossman, she's just another on a long list.

Bob and Christiane take Angelica out to a disco, and she looks pretty good dancing (hell, doing anything). Judit Nemyo heads up to the restroom, and find the lock broken. So she's sitting on the toilet when Chris Lover opens the door. She of course invites him in, and he takes up her offer. She has a thin body, just budding into curves, and very big, bright eyes. I didn't like her too much, but she could be really popular in the future. Hopefully she'll learn to fake sexual pleasure more convincingly, here she moans and groans and tries to look "hot." Still, she takes him up her ass with good energy. Meanwhile, nature has called Angelica (I'd rather watch her pee), but she hears the noise inside the restroom, and so stays outside, playing with herself. Enjoy the view, it is the only sex she has in the whole movie.

Scott and Brossman are rich playboys, and they like to seduce women by pretending they are in the movie business. Adrienne Klass is the latest victim, Scott introduces her to his brother for a "casting session." She isn't too surprised that a couch is involved, and immediately agrees to get it on with the guys. She's another girl who, objectively, is quite pretty, and by the time this was shot, she had toned her body and was in great shape. But I don't really like her face. She had a smoking casting session in reality, with Woodman and Judith Fox, captured in Superfuckers 3, and also appears in Woodman's Madness 2. Here she's part of another standard 3-way, getting analled and Dped by the guys and trying to look really intense. An interesting aspect is the view of Cannes and the ocean behind the balcony.

Christiane wakes up in the morning, and steps naked out of her bedroom and into brilliant sunshine. We can see what a gorgeous body she has, even if her teeth are distractingly crooked whenever she opens her mouth. Bob also wakes up, and convinces her to get back in bed for some nookie. They have passionate sex in what is easily the best scene of the movie. As I said above, she's a bit older, and is very comfortable with sexuality and body, and with being on camera. Angelica hears the noise, and wanders out of her bedroom to peep for a moment. She again looks ravishing, in just a nightshirt, as she watches uncle Bob bounce up and down atop aunt Christiane, who clutches at him fiercely. Angelcia wanders away, and Chrstiane gets on her knees for some deep anal. If Christiane/Nannes doesn't enjoy anal, she sure puts on a good act of having a lot of fun with it in her various movies (including Superfuckers 9)!

Next, Pascal heads to the links for some golf, and runs into Gaby Black, who could use a lift on his cart. She's a rather plain Romanian with dark hair and nice body, and isn't to be confused with the blonde Gaby Black who appears in Rocco's True Anal Stories 14. Pascal can't resist some stroking in the rough, and so they get it on, and while she puts forth good energy, she doesn't seem to be having much fun. Gaby does look good, and takes anal easily.

Finally, Brossman is cruising down mainstreet when he spies Angelica sitting on a rail, licking an icecream cone. He does what any of us would do, flipping a bitch to drive up to her. She rejects his offer of going out for a drink, since he is a stranger. But how bad can a stranger be, who drives a convertable Porche? That logic convinces her, and she rides off with him, setting the stage for Riviera 2.

I'm sorry to say, this one didn't do much for me. Woodman can, and this time did, make movies like this in his sleep. The scenry is nice, the women aren't bad, the sex is boring. I like the women from the cast lists for parts 2 and 3 much better, so that gives me hope. Also, in past multi-part movies (such as The Pyramid, in particular), Woodman has started off strong, only to finish with a fizzle. Perhaps he has worked to reverse that formula, and intentionally began this series with the weakest part. I do look forward to finding out.

The credits include the expeted and also a surprise. As always, wife/all 'round hottie Tania Russof was the makeup artist. Unusually, the script is credited to Judith Fox, a Woodman regular and winner of the 2001 Best Newcomer Hot d'Or (no wonder she is so fond of Cannes). See her in Woodman's Hustler movie Happy Birthday to understand why she won that award.

The DVD has a very short trailer for the movie, trailers for 5 other Private titles, a good photobook, and production notes that can be summed up as, "Ain't it great to be rich?" Surprisingly, there is no "making of" report, though I imagine that will appear in part 3.

I don't want to sound too critical, Riviera 1 isn't a bad movie, it just is far from a great one.
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Speelie@my.adultdvdtalk.com