Do hetero women ever look at pornographic photos while hanging out together?  Does a woman of that orientation ever show nude photos of herself to another woman? 

I doubt this, but this is portrayed as a completely natural activity in the 1970 giallo The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion.  Then again, this is an Italian movie, so maybe things are different over there.

Nieves Navarro is in the photos being looked at by Dagmar Lassander.  They spend a lot of time together, possibly because Lassander’s husband (Pier Paolo Capponi) is always too busy for her.  And yet Navarro is Capponi’s old flame, so I can’t help but think that would be a bit awkward.  Then again, if you’re willing to look at naked pix of your friend, you’re probably OK with this.

Wandering alone one night, she’s threatened by a man (Simon Andreu) who claims Capponi is a criminal and a murderer.  Conveniently, the next day finds a man to whom her husband owed money is killed.  The cause of death was determined to be the bends.  If just so happens her husband works for a company with a pressure tank.  There’s even scuba gear prominently displayed in his office.  Hmm…

Andreu phones Lassander, playing a recording of her husband explicitly implicating himself for the murder, saying he used the compression chamber.  He uses this evidence as leverage to blackmail her, to solicit sexual favors.  Myself, I would be curious about the circumstances around such a conversation ever happening, a tape recording conveniently being made of it and the blackmailer having obtained it.

He secretly takes the titular photos of her while she is giving him his blackmail “payment” and now he uses his as additional leverage over her.  Seems we and she should have anticipated this development, given he was in the one of the pornographic photos Navarro showed her earlier.

If there’s one thing I especially liked about Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is how Navarro’s character knows exactly who she is.  In the end, she and Lassander ride off together.  I suspect that is how they would have ended up no matter how the plot unfolded.

Dir: Luciano Ercoli

Starring Dagmar Lassander, Simon Andreu, Nieves Navarro

Watched on Arow blu-ray