THE KEY

(A.k.a. LA CHIAVE)

Hotel owners Nino (Frank Finlay) and Teresa (Stefania Sandrelli) have been married for 20 years and live in Venice with their adult daughter Lisa (Barbara Cupisti).

We first meet them at a New Year's Eve bash, which they leave from early after he gets drunk and embarrasses her by trying to fondle her on the dancefloor. On the way home, Nino is frisky but Teresa is far too coy to have sex outdoors. She only pees in a darkened alley because she has to - and even then, Nino's not allowed to watch.

Back in their boudoir, Nino wants to have sex but Teresa is still feeling shy. She only succumbs when he teases her about how younger party guest Lazlo (Franco Branciaroli) had been eyeing her up. This observation excites the pair of them into swift orgasms.

But Nino is not satisfied. After two decades of marriage, he's enormously frustrated by his wife's repressed nature. And so, he starts to write a diary detailing of how he wants her to open up to him, in turn allowing him to satisfy her in the ways he knows he could. He places said diary in a drawer, knowing she'll stumble upon it and be unable to resist the urge to read it. Only, he didn't bank on his receptionist reading it too...

In the meantime, Teresa becomes increasingly attracted to the notion of infidelity. This is something she in turn writes into her own diary, and leaves in the same drawer for her husband to peruse. His mixture of excitement and jealousy over any suggestion of his wife playing away from home is a theme explored in several Tinto Brass films.

THE KEY unfurls loosely from there on in, almost vignette-style, as Nino and Teresa encounter various sexual situations outside of their own marriage and relay their experiences through the diary pages. Themes of guilt, displacement and sacrifice are touched upon - but essentially the only thing generous viewers may take away from the film is the idea that communication is paramount to a successful marriage. It's a worthy sentiment, but hardly one people should need to have told to them.

Following the debacle that was CALIGULA, in which director Tinto Brass' principal on-set work was reconstructed and added to by Bob Guccione in post-production to the point that the filmmaker's original vision was virtually unrecognisable, Brass licked his wounds for a couple of years before bouncing back with this ostensibly far simpler slice of erotica.

It's based upon the 1956 novel "Kagi" by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, which studies the plight of a dissatisfied couple who must find ways to reignite their waning love rather than commit the social taboo of divorce. The tale had been translated to the screen several times already, but Brass was the first to relocate the action from Japan to Venice.

In Brass' hands, the acute human observations are kept to a minimum and the tone is more celebratory than exploratory: although it may feel at first glance like "thinking man's soft porn", the arty compositions and conspicuous jazzy score of Ennio Morricone can't ultimately hide that THE KEY is happy to pass as fare of a more trite nature.

The director is attuned to what constitutes eroticism, certainly, and has the wisdom to deliver a lot of it with an agreeable amount of wit. There's no denying the charm this invokes in his central characters. This, coupled with the often luscious interiors and colourful costume designs, ensures the film is always an amiable watch.

Finlay is the film's authority, an actor better than the source material and capable of bringing gravitas to even the most contraire scenes. Without him, who knows how the film would play - a lot weaker, I'd suspect. Having said that, Sandrelli is a warm and likeable (not to mention, sexy) companion to him, who has the ability to evoke sexual chemistry with whomever Brass pairs her with on screen.

The sex scenes are quite playful and never as explicit as those in CALIGULA or some of his later work (for instance, ALL LADIES DO IT). But there's a lot of female nudity in evidence - the focus largely being on their bottoms, naturally - and the sight of exposed labia is a frequent occurrence ... usually from behind...

Handsome Venetian locations lend further artistic weight to the film, balancing out its oft-times bawdy humour and frequent pauses in pace which allow the director to focus intently on whichever female backside takes his fancy.

For an adaptation that Brass apparently fought for the rights to over a couple of decades, THE KEY ultimately doesn't have a lot of message behind it (save for the aforementioned 'communication' plea). But it's entertaining (albeit too long - as well as writing and directing, Brass also unwisely edited the film) in a surprisingly innocent sort of way.

Arrow Films bring THE KEY to UK blu-ray and DVD in a 2-disc combo pack on 20 May 2013, the same day as their release of the later Brass film ALL LADIES DO IT. The blu-ray was provided here for review purposes.

The film is presented uncut - its previous minor cuts have now been waived by the BBFC - in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio and has been enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Presented as an MPEG4-AVC file with a healthily sized bitrate, the transfer is equipped with full 1080p HD resolution and looks attractive. The restoration ensures a clean presentation, with solid detail and texture in close-up scenes. Wider shots fare well in terms of depth. It's only the colours and blacks that look a tad faded - which may well be down to the way the film was shot.

Italian and English audio options are both furnished with clean and consistent 2.0 LPCM mixes. The latter is the preferable of the two, as it holds the benefit of having Finlay's own voice. It's worth noting that the film was recorded in dual languages, so even in the English-speaking version there is some (subtitled) Italian audio here and there. Optional English subtitles differ for both tracks.

An animated main menu page titillates with a montage of cheeky frivolities set to snippets of Morricone's playful score, while pop-up menus include a scene-selection option allowing access to THE KEY via 12 chapters.

The only bonus feature on the disc is the film's original 3-minute theatrical trailer, which is in very good shape.

Also included in this set but not available for review are a double-sided reversible cover and a collectors' booklet with liner notes and production stills.

THE KEY is one of Brass' better films. It's not as sensual - or graphic - as ALL LADIES DO IT, but it is fun. It's served well on Arrow's disc.

Review by Stuart Willis