Nathalie Après L'amour (1970)

 

 

(AKA Love Under Age) An 18 year old dumps her boyfriend for an older artist playboy.  Things are going well until she gets venereal disease.

The seedy side of Paris

One of these men picks up a prostitute 

Stéphane (William Hawk) breaks out his wallet and does the business with the hooker

This whole scene seems irrelevant, but will be important later

At the bowling alley

Young and innocent 18-yr old Nathalie (Nathalie Nesle)

Nathalie is engaged to Guy (Guy Souquet)

Nathalie has no interest in sex whatsoever, much to Guy's disappointment.

Nathalie takes a bath

Nathalie accompanies her brother Pierre to a swingin' party

The party is at Stéphane's place - a friend of Pierre

They play a modified version of spin the bottle where you have to take an item of clothing off.

Stéphane is slick - captivated by Nathalie's beauty.

This chick loses literally all her clothing

Stéphane paints her

Stéphane gives Nathalie a painting.  He tells Pierre that he wants to see his sister again so he can paint her.

Nathalie becomes infatuated with the painting and its creator.

She dreams about Stéphane

She calls Stéphane and takes him up on his offer.

They get along really well

The two get close - but no sex.

Stéphane and Nathalie go on more dates; she falls in love with him.

Time to pose nude

Nathalie drops Guy like a bad habit.  Her parents aren't exactly thrilled she's moved on to an older man, and an artist.

Nathalie loses her virginity in the back of Stéphane's gallery.

And they keep having sex

Posing nude again

Then things take a turn for the worse.

She overhears Pierre talking with Stéphane and learns he has an STD.

Nathalie goes to see a gynecologist. 

She undresses for the medical exam.

What follows is a very long and thorough inspection.

The doctor delivers the bad news - she has a venereal disease.

This is just crazy - it's like the movie turns into a high school sex education film, with a very long lecture on STDs. 

Nathalie confronts Stéphane.  He's shitty about it, not accepting blame.  Nathalie knows she's had sex with no one else, so it had to be him.

Guy punches Stéphane's lights out then gets back together with Nathalie. THE END

The swingin' vibe of the sixties was still alive for this film, and the general nostalgia of it is worth a look - with miniskirts galore. Nathalie Nesle is great - hard to believe she was never in another movie. 

 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆6/10