Monica Vitti is very beautiful but not that charismatic as Modesty. She also struggles with her English a lot and never seems where to put her performance. But after a while I got into her and she has this fascinating by-play with cockney Terence Stamp as her best mate, colleague and occasional lover - but he can't help sleeping with other women, and she sleeps with Michael Craig. They treat the adventures like a big jokey game, kind of like two kids mucking around in Europe - and occasionally their sense of fun is infectious. Modesty is very sexy and liberated here - not punished for her sexual appetite, brave, wearing a series of stunning gowns. Dirk Bogarde (billed beneath Vitti and Stamp) joins in the fun and games wearing a blonde wig and lounging around his yacht with beach boys serving him food and an oppressive mother - Bogarde may have officially been in the closet but his on screen work in the sixties (this, Victim, The Singer Not the Song) has to be among the campest of all time.
This lurches all over the place - sometimes it's dull, others it's over the top, the acting tones vary. I know it's meant to be camp but sometime's it's just plain dumb but others it's really clever and sexy - like a nude Vitti "putting something on" for Bogarde by drawing a line on her body. I didn't even mind Stamp and Vitti singing to each other - but it came out of nowhere and felt very inconsistent. So are Vitti and Stamp's performances - but Bogarde does better and Michael Craig hits the right note.
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