In Austria during the early 1960s a teenage boy on the brink of maturity fantasizes about traveling to San Tropez and rescuing Brigitte Bardot from public exploitation, while at the same time charting his own troubled passage through the usual labyrinth of post-adolescent angst. The settings may change, but the details to any coming-of-age film are always comfortably similar, and this low-key drama adheres closely to the formula. Don't expect any surprises, just a well-crafted story of a typically confused young man trying to reconcile his romantic ideals with his blossoming libido, adding an intriguing political subtext connecting his sexual awakening with social responsibility.
(A belated postscript: When I saw this back in 1988 (at the one-and-only Red Vic Movie House, on Haight Street in San Francisco) it was titled 'The Temptation', and 22-plus years later I just discovered the film was actually an episode of an Austrian television series)
(A belated postscript: When I saw this back in 1988 (at the one-and-only Red Vic Movie House, on Haight Street in San Francisco) it was titled 'The Temptation', and 22-plus years later I just discovered the film was actually an episode of an Austrian television series)