If the sight of a big floppy horse's dobber dribbling spunk isn't enough to convince you that by this point Italian cinema had discarded restraint and headed off for 'pushing boundaries' territory, then I don't know what will. Except maybe the other bits of this film that don't involve horse porn. Severin is some sort of messed up guy who can't get over the time he was spying on a maid doing the nasty with some guy, getting caught, getting slapped around, and then being held between the maid's boobs (I'm not sure if that part was strictly legal in 2017). Now an all grown up messed up pervert, he finds himself spying on attractive model Wanda, who likes to dress up in furs and do a bit of invisible banjo playing - and she knows Severin is watching!Eventually these two hook up and Severin wants Wanda to sleep with other guys in front of him and beat him up and all sorts of crap and at first Wanda seems to think this is the ultimate freedom until she starts getting second thoughts (right about the time Severin gives her a letter that would serve as an alibi should Severin end up dead during their crazy sex games!).But is she really fed up or is her rage and beatings part of some elaborate game? And what about the lesbian house maids? Or the bizarre fantasies of Severin. Or the last ten minutes? No really? What was that all about? Was it her or some other chick?If you like boobs, pubes, short-changed dudes and lesbian interludes you'll like this one I guess. I can't believe I actually paid money for this! Or an HMV voucher - something like that.

This is an Italian adaption of the book of the same name. I haven't actually read the book myself, although I am very familiar with the seminal song 'Venus in Furs' by The Velvet Underground. So I had a basic idea that this story is about a sadomasochistic relationship between a couple – Severin and the 'whiplash girl-child' (Wanda). The song is of course a bona fide untouchable classic, the film somewhat less so. Nevertheless, it's still a stylish and effective slice of Eurotica.It tells a tale about Wanda (Laura Antonelli) who is driven by her masochistic husband Severin into sexually dominating him. This entails her being blatantly unfaithful and treating him contemptuously. As time progresses he struggles with his own rules.The movie benefits from the sure hand of director Massimo Dallamano who was responsible for two excellent later films the giallo What Have You Done to Solange? and the giallo-poliziotteschi crossover What Have They Done to your Daughters? Venus in Furs isn't in the same bracket as those but then it is a very different type of film. It's pretty playful tone-wise for the most part, with a cheerful lounge soundtrack. It also looks pretty good with some decent locations, while Antonelli is great to look at as well. It is fairly erotic with a lot of classy nudity but be warned it does also contain a pretty notorious moment where we are treated to the sight of a couple of horses banging each other. Its horses for courses if you can excuse the pun.Overall, though, this is a pretty good erotic drama. Also it should not be confused with the Jesus Franco film of the same name, also from 1969, which is similarly impressive but has nothing whatsoever to do with the novel Venus in Furs.

'Venus In Furs' is a surprisingly good movie version of Sacher-Masoch's erotic classic of obsessive love. Updated to the present, which is obviously the 60s, director Massimo Dallamano (also responsible for the Helmut Berger 'Dorian Gray') manages to be quite faithful to the original story, and setting it in swinging Europe works very well. The beautiful Laura Antonelli (Fulci's 'The Eroticist') is well cast as the sensuous Wanda who is urged by her masochistic husband Severin (Regis Vallee) on to greater and greater heights of betrayal and sadistic game playing. Their passionate relationship takes them both to places they never anticipated and the movies final scene is neither predictable nor unsatisfying. This is an above average movie of its type. Fans of Eurosleaze like Franco's 'Succubus' and Berruti's 'Killer Nun' will dig it the most. I enjoyed it a lot.

This potentially interesting film falls flat mainly due to a VERY leisurely pace that sucks the life out of the movie. Instead, we are left with a somewhat kinky, rarely entertaining movie that probably could have been much better with a few adjustments. This film may prove to be of some interest to those who have seen other films named "Venus In Furs", and it is a pleasant distraction for fans of the gorgeous Laura Antonelli, but it would prove to be of little interest to anyone else.