What? (1972)

Nancy (Sydne Rome) is an American who is traveling the world.  On this particular night, she is in a car with a trio of Italians, one of whom asks if she was raped while traveling in Afghanistan.  Of course not, she always meets nice people.  So the Italians pull to the side of the road and attempt to rape the naive and clueless American.  Luckily, she slips away with only her diary and uses an elevator to a villa to escape.  Treating her as just another guest, an older man shows her to a room and a maid makes the bed.  Her shirt is badly torn and she wore neither bra nor panties, so she climbs naked into bed.  In the morning, her shirt is gone, so she wanders the villa holding her diary to her chest.

The villa is occupied by a bizarre collection of people.  There is Alex (Marcello Mastroianni) the former pimp who has the hots for Nancy.  There is Mosquito (Roman Polanski), who is feuding with Alex and wears Nancy's shirt - it has been mended.  There is the naked girl who goes daily to the beach with only a big-brimmed hat and high heels.  There are a pair of ping pong players, one of whom is a sex addict whose pelvis thrusts even when he sleeps.  There is the priest who warns Nancy to get out while she can.  The pianist who repeatedly explains his arthritis and then commences to play the piano.  All of these odd balls are somehow involved with Joseph Noblart (Hugh Griffith), the owner of the villa who is quite sick.

Despite having nearly been raped, Nancy doesn't contact the authorities.  Instead, she gets involved with the creepy Alex, who treats her poorly.  She is repeatedly warned against him, told he has syphilis, sees him antagonize others, but nonetheless falls victim - albeit willing - to his seduction.  In fact, she reacted with great interest when he said he had been a pimp.  When he had her handcuffed on the beach and thrashed her with a branch, she proclaimed her love for him.  What?

The movie is an excuse to get Sydne Rome naked.  She spends a lot of time topless and has several scenes of full nudity.  Her acting is wooden.  She is mostly a wide-eyed naif who is astonished by each trial she endures.  This is the kind of movie that gave European films a bad reputation in America.

Roman Polanski had high expectations for this film and agreed to direct Chinatown based on the opening box office of this film.  That proved to be $64.  Yeah, that sounds about right.

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