Highly controversial due to showing plenty of early teenager nudity, this unsettling coming of age story is regarded as a masterpiece by some, and exploitative junk by others. The first day of their summer holiday, Laura (Lara) and Fabrizio meet at the edge of a forest, as they have done in years past, to spend the summer together in the woods. Fabrizio has however changed, and seems now only interested in abusing Laura psychologically, to the extent of tying her to the ground and releasing a snake on her. Laura, unbelievably, stays with Fabrizio despite everything, apparently too attracted to him.

This is the only major plot element until Fabrizio meets another early teenage girl Silvia (Eva), who, unlike soft Laura, is every bit as evil and dominating as Fabrizio. Silvia is a willing sex partner for Fabrizio, and Laura is relegated to subserviency and object of malice. They even force Laura to watch while having sex, another way of asserting the pecking order. Plenty of skin is shown, including breasts, pubic hair and more. Closeups are excluded from our screenshots and video clip.

The actresses perform decently, but due to their age are almost completely out of scope for this site, and so are given low scores. Regardless, Eva impresses with her uniquely cold, evil and erotic look. Eva is also famous for having been a model in her mother's erotic photographs from the age of five, and for having appeared in Italian Playboy at the age of 11.

The direction has plenty of elementary flaws. There are very confusing temporal jumps, and in many scenes characters are not in the least credible. The ending completely fails to have any emotional impact or to bring a feeling of closure, violating the simplest rules of drama. Nonetheless, if early teenager sexuality and cruelty are taboos for you, the movie does have impact. That is its largest merit by far.