German series exploring “what if” scenarios.

Everyone asks themselves the question at least once in their life: What if…? The question of what life would be like with a different decision has inspired numerous creative minds – be it on a small scale (à la Groundhog Day ) or on a large scale (the multiverse as in the Marvel comic adaptations). Now the German series “Parallel Me” , which premieres on April 26th on Paramount+, is also trying its hand at the concept. The series explores the possible alternative lives of the protagonist, Toni Falk ( Malaya Stern Takeda ).

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Johnny’s notes:

Not a great amount of nudity in the final update for 2019 but there’s a decent scene from Thomasin McKenzie in True History of the Kelly Gang (see below). There are some brief scenes of nudity in the drama Spring Interlude; two comedies, Standing Up for Sunny and The Taverna; and two thrillers, Tainted Getaway and Turbines.

Sydne had an unusual career path for a kid from Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Early in her acting career, she flew to Rome to audition for the title role in Candy, and essentially never returned. She told an Akron newspaper that she fell in love and decided to stay in Europe. She eventually became an Italian citizen, converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and worked her entire life in European cinema.

Somewhere along the line she decided to shave five years off her age. IMDb lists her birth year as 1951, but Wikipedia has the correct date of 1946. We know 1946 is right because there is plenty of information available about her at ancestry.com, including census data and many yearbook pictures from every year of her high school days. Those pictures demonstrate that she entered high school in September of 1960 with short dark hair that had a bit of a wave to it. Her hair got longer, straighter and lighter every year.

Somehow the dark-haired Jewish girl, an American born in 1946, had miraculously become a blonde Italian Catholic born in 1951! Fortunately for us, neither of her religions seemed to discourage her from doing nude scenes. Roman Polanski’s What?, pictured below, featured her best nude performance, but she turned in many others between 1969 and 1977.

In 2009, she was in a terrible auto accident that disfigured her face and robbed her of her great beauty, but she continued to act, and is still acting to this day, although she is approaching 80. In a perfect bit of symmetry, her most recent film was also directed by Roman Polanski (The Palace, 2023), more than 50 years after he had directed her in the scenes below.

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Dramedy series from Spain

Berta Prieto and Belén Barenys write, together with Miguel Ángel Blanca (Magaluf Ghost Town) this series about the vital moment of a generation, of which five episodes will be screened. Autodefensa is about two friends who have a great time together without having to ask anyone’s permission. The film is about being in your twenties, living in Barcelona and wanting to step over every possible emotional red line to discover who you really are. It’s about the adventures of two cheeky lunatics who don’t want anyone to tell them how to do things, creating their own world in order to be queens. Actually, Autodefensa is about two girls who are really scared and having fun in self-defence. They say they’re sorry, it was all ‘self-defence’, they were just too scared.

To my knowledge, there were no more seasons.

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Longer video with more nudity and a pissing scene.

Acclaimed French drama, the second part of a story begun in Jean de Florette (also 1986). The two-part saga is ranked among the greatest film achievements of all time.

A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father’s land caused his death years earlier (as pictured in another film, Jean de Florette).

Warning: My review (linked below) contains spoilers of some dramatic, ironic plot twists.

I would love Claude Berri’s masterpieces, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring (my review), even if Emmanuelle Beart had not gotten naked in the second part of the story. The beautiful nudity represents wonderfully sweet icing on a perfect cake. Both parts of the saga are rated at least 8 at IMDb, as well they should be.

Defoe’s 4K film clip is here

Belgian drama series with soap-opera plots. Literally: “Thirtysomethings”

Defoe’s film clip

Here is all the nudity from seasons one and two, including more of Amandine.

With Joli Joli, director Diastème brings us an intoxicating musical comedy that thrills audiences with the sounds of the 70s, between Paris and Rome.

Clara’s nudity is not in focus, but it’s a cute scene. Defoe’s short film clip is well worth the short time it takes to view it.

“Thriller”

A fugitive gangster falling for a beguiling go-go dancer triggers a pulse-pounding spiral of unexpected twists and betrayals.

A go-go dancer? Have I pulled a Rip van Winkle in reverse? Is it still 1968? What time does “Laugh-In” come on?

4.8 at IMDb.

It’s the most boring “thriller” ever. About half of it consists of action-free conversations in the front seat of a car. Most of the rest takes place in the confines of a small hotel room.

The nicest things I can say are (1) that the director did a reasonably good job with a very low budget, and (2) everything about the film is technically sound.

Film clips

Julie was apparently born twice, once in 1972, then again in 1980. I think 1980 is more likely to be correct.

Julie’s nudography now spans a quarter of a century, but it’s been a while since her last nude role.

Johnny Moronic remarked:

I’ve found an open matte version of The Fifth Element so there’s slightly more nudity to be seen.

Johnny Moronic’s film clips and collages are here