"Bel Ami"

Well, the Self-Styled Siren has her favor­ite cine­mat­ic ver­sion of the Maupassant nov­el, which she wrote about beau­ti­fully here. And I have my own, the 1976-or-so “erot­ic adult” ver­sion, widely touted at the time as Harry Reems’ final film (he came back) and also boast­ing real European “pro­duc­tion value” not to men­tion “exot­ic” European female tal­ent. Which I first saw not because I was a pornhound perv but because of a personal/professional asso­ci­ation with the firm Video-X-Pix, which I detail in my still-unfinished mem­oir My Life In Pornography. Anyway, if you like that sort of thing, it’s really quite good of its kind. In any event, it’s WAY bet­ter than the new, Robert Pattinson-starring Bel Ami, which I review today for MSN Movies. The Siren did­n’t care for it either; her review in today’s  New York Post is fun­ni­er and sharp­er and more con­cise than my own, maybe. “Twinkly Hannibal Lecter,” that’s good.