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94
Minutes • Color
• 16mm
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far would you go for the ultimate sexual experience? What risk would
be too great, what pursuit too unholy? In the comic adventure APHRODISIAC
director Madeline Schwartzman takes a wry and irreverent glance
at some New Yorkers who carry their quest for the ultimate turn-on
to positively sinful extremes.
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True story: In 15th century Europe, no fewer than 12 churches claimed
to have possession of the foreskin of Jesus Christ. The holy relic
was believed to be an aphrodisiac: Henry V hung it above his marriage
bed to help produce a son. But in 1983, the last of the 12 churches
announced that the foreskin had been stolen. Parishioners suspected
an inside job.
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APHRODISIAC
picks up where the truth left off. What if the foreskin, with all
its erotic powers, were to arrive in modern New York? In a madcap
search for this holiest of grails, Schwartzman's film spins a web
of sex and religion, samba and militia movements, fashion runways
and deli counters. |
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The
Virgin Mary, floating by a Don't Walk sign, is the first to deliver
the news: The Antichrist is in town, she says -- pausing to take
a call on her cell phone -- and if he gets his hands on the relic,
the Time of Times will
come. For Ludmilla Gund, leader of the militia of the Immaculate
Conception, this calls for action.
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For
Al and Wendy, the oversexed, undersatisfied lovers at the center
of APHRODISIAC, it means another icon that might come between them
and true fulfillment -- unless
Al can get if first. |
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For
the NYPD, it means a chance to crack a ring of criminal aphrodisiac
traffickers. And for Bob and Sue, two sexy tabloid TV reporters
on the case, this could be the story that brings them finally
together.
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All roads lead inevitably, absurdly to a climactic showdown at the
Adler bris (circumcision). The erotic heartbeat of The Upper West
Side will never be the same.
APHRODISIAC is
Schwartzman's first feature film. |
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