Secrets of a Call Girl (1973)

- Anna, quel particolare piacere
Tragic, 17 September 2005

Anna (Edwige Fenech) is a small town girl working as a cashier in a local coffee shop. When gangster Guido (Corrado Pani) blows into town and into her coffee shop, she is immediately smitten. Even though she knows little about him, Anna follows him to Milan. She is slowly introduced to a world that completely foreign. And before she knows what's happening, she does what Guido demands and joins his criminal organization as a call girl. But the birth of her son and a chance meeting with a nice doctor changes everything. Anna desperately wants to escape her former life and Guido, but at what price to her, her son, and the new man she loves?

Regardless of the silly American title and the way Secrets of a Call Girl was marketed, it's not really either an exploitation movie or a gangster movie. Sure, there are elements of both, but deep down this is a tragic love story. This is not the kind of movie that I usually go for, but something about Secrets of a Call Girl worked for me. Maybe it was just the charismatic presence of Fenech or the brutal character played by Pani, but I couldn't take my eyes off the television. In the end, Secrets of a Call Girl is an incredibly sad, moving film. If the ending doesn't affect you and all but bring a tear to your eye, you might need to seek help.

The new DVD represents another bang-up job from NoShame Films. Although their catalog is still quite small, NoShame easily gets my vote for the best DVD production company of 2005.

7/10