Labyrinth Of Passion

Laberinto De Pasiones is a silly little sex comedy, primarily focussing on a nymphomaniac called Sexilia (Cecilia Roth) and the son of a Middle Eastern emperor, Riza (Imanol Arias). A number of equally pantomime-style characters weave into their lives, including gay terrorist Sadec (Antonio Banderas).

As you would expect, the nymphomaniac screws around and the terrorist plots to kidnap the emperor's son. Everyone slots neatly into their clearly defined roles. From the get-go, the film is camp, brash, cheesy, silly, and light-hearted. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and has a lot of fun in the process.

There's no great depth of story, or any fantastic acting performances on display. If forced to analyse the film, there's little one could pinpoint as being particularly good, but it's enjoyable every step of the way. By the same token, there's nothing especially bad either. On strictly technical grounds, Laberinto De Pasiones is fairly average, but watching it with a cold beer on a warm summer's evening, and it strikes a chord.

It's not a patch on any other Almodóvar film, nor on the master of camp excess, John Waters, but as a standalone film, there's plenty to delight the audience. Any film that is unashamedly ridiculous enough to include the line "I need a bit of the Emperor's semen; I'll tell you how to send it to me" is all right by me.