Zazel

Infobox Film
name = Zazel


image_size = 220px
caption = Gina LaMarca (left) and Sasha Vinni featured on the DVD cover for "Zazel"
director = Philip Mond
producer =
writer =
narrator =
starring = Penthouse Pets
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = 1996
runtime =
country = U.S.
language = English
budget = $237,000
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id =

"Zazel: The Scent of Love" is a highly regarded American hardcore pornographic film released in 1996. The film, reportedly made at a cost of $237,000, was directed by Philip Mond and starred a bevy of Penthouse Pets, including:
*Sasha Vinni, 1994 Pet of the Year, as the title character, Zazel
*Grace Harlow
*Lene Hefner
*Gina LaMarca, 1995 Pet of the Year
*Brooke Lane
*Anna Romero
*Nikki St. GillesThe film included elaborate set pieces, extravagant make-up and body painting, and expensive filming techniques such as underwater filming not normally seen in pornographic films.

Plot

"Zazel" is the title character, a world-famous artist commissioned to create "the most arousing perfume ever". In the course of devising this scent, Zazel variously paints pictures, views photographs, and wanders among the flowers of her garden, each experience inspiring her to envision a powerful sexual fantasy. Themes explored include water nymphs, the jungle, black-and-white era films, "The Three Musketeers", heaven and hell.

Each sequence features an imaginative and novel treatment of sexual activity based on these said themes, including mythological and literary references as well as several visual/anatomical puns achieved through the strategic use of body paint, fetishistic costumes and accessories, and trompe l'oeil camera placement and editing trickery. It is notable that Sasha Vinni, who plays Zazel and also narrates the film, never has heterosexual intercourse with a male partner in any of her scenes: she simply masturbates and engages in lesbian activities with the other female performers.

Nymph sequence

In the opening "nymph" sequence, Zazel, emerges from a pond as the "Blue Siren", her nude body is painted bright blue and multiple arms appear and gesticulate behind her in the manner of the Hindu god, Shiva, creator of the universe in Vedic mythology. The bright blue body paint contrasts sharply with her bright red lipstick and her flicking red tongue as she performs cunnilingus on a "Water Nymph" played by Grace Harlow.

Tattoo sequence

In two other scenes, Zazel appears as an assistant to a male lover/tattoo artist who designs a colorful flower pattern on Lene Hefner's vulva. Zazel gently spreads the lips of Hefner's labia minora with her fingers and licks it, giving the illusion that she is parting the petals of a flower and tongue kissing it. The visual pun of vagina/flower is continued in a later scene as Zazel is shown penetrating herself with a flower-shaped object and masturbating.

"Three Musketeers" sequence

In the "Three Musketeers" sequence, Sasha Vinni, Brooke Lane, and Anna Romero appear in 17th-century-style period costume based on the characters of the Dumas novel. They strip, tongue kiss, perform cunnilingus on one another, and masturbate by penetrating themselves with rubber dildoes which they have outfitted on the back of their riding boots like spurs.

Jungle sequence

In the "jungle" sequence, Sasha Vinni's nude body is artfully painted with tiger stripes as she flicks her tongue and writhes and crawls through savanna-like grass and tropical vegetation.

The scene ends with a close-up shot of a woman with a tiger's face painted on her buttocks, with the painted tiger's nose and mouth ending at the tip of her anus and labia majora. The woman rides a man's penis, with her buttocks plunging down on the shaft as it enters her vagina, thus creating the illusion that the tiger's face is "fellating" him. Noted adult cinematographer, Carlisle Weber, cited this scene as a major influence in his seminal work.

Heaven sequence

The "heaven" sequence is filmed in bright, diffuse light and features three women (including Sasha Vinni) coated in pale, peach-colored body paint with elaborately knotted hair (suggesting a combination of the classical Roman ringlet and 1930s-era "marcelled" hairstyles) performing various sexual acts on a similarly painted man outfitted with giant angel's wings. The scene culminates with one of the women straddling the angelic man as he penetrates her anally while Zazel leans over and licks the woman's vulva.

Black-and-white sequence

The black-and-white sequence is the only one to feature a strictly heterosexual coupling, and it is also the only part of the film which does not feature Sasha Vinni (Zazel). It begins with Gina LaMarca gyrating on a bed situated in what appears to be an exotic spa/boudoir designed in the Spanish Moorish style. Ms. LaMarca is nude except for baroque white pasties and a matching white crotch guard (see DVD cover above).

The fetish accessories are soon removed and she and her male partner engage in various sexual activities (cunnilingus, fellatio, 69, as well as different positions of intercourse). Cross-cutting from the man's final ejaculation on her belly, they are also seen (presumably at a post-coital moment) performing a tumbling dive into the pool while holding hands and then resurfacing to embrace and cuddle in the water.

Mermaid sequence

In the penultimate sequence in the film, Sasha Vinni and Nikki St. Gilles appear as mermaids outfitted with tail fins. They dispense with the mermaid accessories and engage in lesbian activities (as in the "nymph" sequence, some of the cunnilingus activity is filmed underwater). Pierre Jamison, known as the first French adult film director to incorporate New Wave style into pornography, remarked that, "the mermaid scene in Zazel, for me, has become like Proust's madeleine, unleashing a tsunami of memories from my early childhood."

Hell sequence

The "hell" sequence features Anna Romero as a She-Devil in a fetishistic red latex devil's costume — complete with red latex horns, red latex ballet boots, and a long red latex forked devil's tail protruding from a red flared dildo attachment that penetrates her anus, thus holding the tail in place. Although Sasha Vinni appears in this costume on the U.S. video cover, only Romero wears it in the film. During this sequence the lower portion of the screen is filled with digitally superimposed flames for atmospheric effect. The She-Devil sneaks up behind Zazel — who is sitting at a table airbrushing a design of the She-Devil and her costume — and "decapitates" the artist with a scythe. The She-Devil crawls around Zazel's freshly "severed" head, now placed upon the table. The She-Devil tongue-kisses Zazel's head and thrusts her moist vulva into Zazel's face. Zazel's head performs cunnilingus on the She-Devil as the latter masturbates anally, pushing the red latex tail-dildo deeper into her rectum.The necrophilia implied in the She-Devil receiving cunnilingus from Zazel's "severed" head was censored in some home video versions of the film.

The scene continues with the She-Devil (now "sans" the tail-dildo) having sex with two men, which ends with a vaginal/anal double penetration.

Awards

*Listed as one of the AVN Magazine's 101 Greatest Adult Films of all time.
*Won seven 1997 AVN Awards, including:
**Best All-Sex Film
**Best Cinematography
**Best Art Direction
**Best Editing
**Best Group Scene
**Best Overall Marketing Campaign
**Best Selling Tape Of The Year.

External links

* [http://www.adultfilmdatabase.com/index.cfm/Action/DV/VideoID/35526/Zazel/ Adult Film Database page for "Zazel"] (Warning, contains explicit images)
* [http://www.a-womans-touch.com/product/84/704/Zazel.html A Woman's Touch review of "Zazel"]
* [http://www.edendvd.com/ZAZEL-THE-SCENT-OF-LOVE/DVD-Description-16428 Eden DVD review of "Zazel"]
* [http://www.adultdvdtalk.com/reviews/read_review.dlt/sku=1279/zazel.htm Very detailed scene-by-scene description of "Zazel"]
* [http://www.adult-dvd-world.co.uk/xq/asp_item/id_4912/qx/zazel.htm Another brief review of Zazel, mentioning the cost]
* [http://www.zazel.com Trailer and Images]