Insatiable (1980)

It feels so good to have great sex.

Such is the life philosophy of incredibly successful model/actress Sandra Chase (Marilyn Chambers), but Godfrey Daniels's Insatiable ultimately asks, "And then what?" On the surface, Sandra seems to have the world in the palm of her hand. Much of the film takes place during the pre-production phase of Chase's forthcoming star-turn feature, masterminded by Flo (Jessie St. James), her...agent? Manager, maybe? Regardless, Flo is convinced that attaching actors Renee Reynolds (Serena) and Roger Adams (John Leslie) will make the movie a slam dunk success. Judging by the conversations between Sandra and her Aunt Victoria on Sandra's post-filming vacation, Flo was right.

It's demonstrated and reiterated that sex is very important to Sandra. Right off the bat, she has a super horny dream and the first thing she wants to do is tell Flo about it and is disappointed when she can't due to Renee's imminent arrival. She doesn't have much time to fret, though, since within minutes after meeting Renee, the two women are in the hot tub getting it on.

Insatiable though she may be, Sandra never seems to have much difficulty finding action. What's more, she seems to be as content giving as she is receiving. After wrapping up with Renee, Sandra takes a drive in the country and comes across Artie Goldberg (Richard Pacheco) whose car broke down on the way to his softball game. Chase offers to give him a ride, but gives him a blowjob instead. Artie was so gobsmacked that he was with the Sandra Chase, that it was pretty apparent he'd have done anything she asked, so blowing him must have been enough for her in the moment. I don't think Artie ever got to his game, but I feel like he probably didn't give a shit, either.

After Sandra's drive, her fucking cool as hell butler Charles told her that he'd sent Renee back to her hotel in a limo, so Sandra takes the opportunity to have some wine with Flo and tell the tale of how she lost her virginity to the family's gardener (David Morris) on the billiards table in her father's study. There's some ambiguity as to how old Sandra was during the experience. She tells Flo it happened "around six years ago," but that doesn't really track. Chambers was 28 at the time, and it seems reasonable to expect Sandra was supposed to be about the same age (I could see maybe 25 at the youngest), but the Chambers's portrayal of Chase in the flashback was much more naive than a 19-22 year old. Plus, after the story's over, Flo expresses her concern that she could have been hurt and says, "Imagine...and you were just a young girl...." To which Sandra replies, "I was young, but sexually, I was ready for him." I'd put the implied age at 14, plus or minus two years, purposely obscured for decency (if not legality).

The scene itself is a touch overlong and borders on assault despite Sandra's claim of being "ready for him" well after the fact. David Morris is a serviceable enough actor overall, but lacked the chops give the scene any nuance. If his macho menace had been undercut with a little seduction, the whole thing would have come off much better. I found myself thinking that John Leslie would have nailed it. And speaking of Leslie....

The next part of Flo's plan is bringing Roger to Sandra's estate to sell him on the film over dinner, drinks, and romance. I wonder if Leslie and St. James were ever an item in real life, because they sure had a lot of natural chemistry.

While they're getting it on, Sandra's in her room falling into fantasy. Sanda is laid out, nude on a table. The gardener from her past emerges from the darkness and goes to work on her. Then, another fantasy man (Mike Ranger) appears, followed by Flo. The three of them focusing on Sandra seem to be getting her close, but she's obviously distraught when the men finish on her belly (Morris) and face (Ranger) and her companions drift off, back to the darkness. (I'm assuming the set was a conscious nod to the stage in Behind the Green Door.)

In an effort to (literally) fill her void(s), she conjures John Holmes and his massive donger. Try as he might, though, even he's not able to sate Sandra's mouth, vagina, or ass (which, Jesus...), and when he also finishes, leaves Sandra hauntingly begging for more, directly to camera. To say it's a tonal shift for the film is an understatement. The film had been pretty breezy, soundtracked by folksy AM Gold rejects, but as the music fades out while Holmes is ejaculating, it's just 72 seconds of Sandra's panting, moaning, and pleas (reminiscent of the chilling opening of Devil in Miss Jones), fading to silence and darkness.

Interestingly, this fantasy occurs before the scenes earlier in the film when she's in London, telling her aunt (and herself, when she's thinking about Flo and Roger's marriage) that her independence "gets lonely at times, and hey, I do my share of complaining about it, but compared to the alternative, I think I'll leave it the way it is for now." So even if the viewer is left with a pretty somber assessment of Sandra's satisfaction, with the benefit of the doubt that she's not simply deluding herself, there's narrative proof that overall, she's actually pretty content. So that's something!

Insatiable is another film that I reviewed in the initial incarnation of Pornonomy. I saw that I gave it a B+, but didn't read what I wrote yet. I'll see what Roger Rimmer had to say about it and then circle around:

There is no plot to this film, but there is much wealthy ambience.... While I have given it a CC rating my feeling is that most women won't identify with Marilyn. All she wants to do is have sex. If most women feel the same way, they won't admit it to anyone.

Well, that's a little presumptive! Rimmer also bungled details including John Leslie's character's name (he calls him "Roger Renee," conflating Roger Adams and Renee Reynolds), and the timeline, but what else is new?

Insatiable is also one of AVN's 500 Greatest Adult Films of All Time, but the blurb isn't particularly enlightening.

It's also one of the All Time Top Ten from Jim Holliday's book, The Top 100 X-Rated Films of All Time.

 

Looking back, my review in December 2009 isn't markedly different than how I felt watching now. I ended that one with:

Beyond the “classic” tag, I knew nothing of Insatiable, and while it was different than my expectations, it didn’t come up short. On the other hand, while I’d encourage interested porn viewers to check out Insatiable – especially for Chambers’ performance – there are others I’d recommend before it. So, I’ll give Insatiable a relatively arbitrary B+.

Arbitrary, indeed. New project, new grading scale. This time, Insatiable gets a whopping CC5.

RANDOM THOUGHTS
° While Marilyn Chambers sings the song used for the film's opening, a duet version of "Morning, Noon, and Nighttime" is reprised throughout.

° Godfrey Daniels (real name Stu Segal) had a pretty solid career as a producer and has a fucking killer website.

° The ADR on the film was outstanding. Which I realize is sort of a weird thing to notice.

° The photography was also frequently excellent:

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