The Libertine (Italian: La matriarca, lit. "The matriarch") is a 1968 Italian film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile. Plot This is a sex comedy film about Mimi (Catherine Spaak), a young widow who discovers that her recently deceased husband kept a secret apartment for his kinky desires. Frustrated that he did not explore his sexual fantasies with her, she embarks on a quest to understand perversion and sexuality. She uses her late husband's apartment to seduce various men, each time learning more about the depths of human depravation, as well as the extent of the sexual double standard for women (late in the film, she states, "I notice men only call me a whore when I say no. Or stop saying yes.") Finally, she meets the man who shares himself fully with her, appreciates her sexual daring and accepts her for whoever she is. Cast Catherine Spaak as Margherita, aka Mimmi Jean-Louis Trintignant as Dr. Carlo De Marchi Gigi Proietti as Sandro Maldini Luigi Pistilli as Otto Frank, aka Mr. X Renzo Montagnani as Fabrizio Fabienne Dali as Claudia Nora Ricci as Mimmi's Mother Vittorio Caprioli as The Librarian Frank Wolff as Dr. Giulio Edda Ferronao as Maria Paolo Stoppa as Professor Zauri Philippe Leroy as The Tennis Instructor Venantino Venantini as Aurelio Gabriele Tinti as The Man in the Car Reception The New York Times said the film was "not nearly as clever, sophisticated and amusing as it archly pretends." The Guardian called it "pseudo-sophisticated, so fake as to be positively sick making and, what is more, thoroughly unerotic." The Washington Post complained "the film's own attitudes are far too conventional". The Los Angeles Times thought the movie was "at times... pretty hot stuff... has a little more style and wit than most Radley Metzger releases." The Chicago Tribune thought the film was "more clumsy than clever... just as unimaginative as the film it attempts to parody." See also Sadism and masochism in fiction Libertine References External links 1969 films 1969 comedy films Commedia all'italiana Films directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile Films scored by Armando Trovajoli Films set in Rome Films shot in Rome 1960s Italian-language films 1960s Italian films