Tendres Cousines

A cross between a French Carry On film and The Great Gatsby, but with more breasts, Tender Cousins (1980) presents Julian (Tevini), a 14-year-old boy entering an early 1940s upper-class household where his adulthood is encouraged to develop in the new and highly sexualised environment in which he finds himself. As the threatening new male, Julian's sexual endeavours being hampered by the other male predators make up most of the very loose plot. Be under no illusions – this is soft porn at heart, and the plot's role as mediator between sex scenes reflects this. Looking almost self-consciously dated and clichéd, with maids and stable boys undressing each other in every other scene, it's easy to criticise. Yet worryingly there seems to be a profundity behind the hair and nipples, reminiscent of Jean Renoir's work in the Thirties, that makes one pause before slating the film too heavily. [Kieran Westbrook]