Lesbian Voyeur

Title:  Lesbian Voyeur
Studio:  Girl Candy Films
Director/Writer:  Nica Noelle
Executive Producer:  Jerry Anders
Released:  January 2013
Performers:  Shay Laren, Allie Haze, Kiki Daire, Sovereign Syre, Ash Hollywood, Katsuni, Sharon Lee

The number of adult video directors creating beautifully layered, carefully nuanced, psychologically complex work is in the low single digits (and I’m being generous).  Chief among them is Nica Noelle.  As evidence I point to her most recent girl-girl offering Lesbian Voyeur featuring an all star cast and, as usual, brilliant writing and Nica’s well documented willingness to allow sexual encounters to unfold naturally before our eyes.  The only time she asks her performers to improvise is at the point where dialog ends and the clothes come off.  The most difficult thing she demands of her performers is that they act naturally with each other while having sex.  That is probably a lot more challenging than memorizing her expertly crafted dialog I suspect.

Lesbian Voyeur offers us Shay Laren in the crucial role of a highly repressed lesbian wannabe who prefers watching lesbians having sex to actually having a lesbian relationship (or any other kind for that matter).  She’s deathly afraid of what might happen if she really became involved with another human being and, so, she lives in a lonely world of secret desires and dreams, vicariously experiencing the intimacy of others.  Many viewers may see themselves in Shay’s character – how many people reading this watch porn and masturbate alone?  Are we not all voyeurs after all?  One thing that makes Nica Noelle’s work so appealing to me is her persistence in asking uncomfortable/awkward questions.  She makes me think instead of just watch and stroke.  I like that.  There’s plenty of porn out there that’s just stroke material and don’t get me wrong, I enjoy that.  But I’m glad that Nica Noelle continues to provoke us to consider more than just the physical side of sexuality as she does, again, with Lesbian Voyeur.

Excellent writing is wasted without a cast capable of delivering it and Nica has assembled an excellent group of actresses to bring her vision to life.  The pairings work, the sex is sensual and visually pleasing; passionate and intimate; ultimately satisfying on a number of levels.  This is a fine French brandy, not a cheap bottle of whiskey.  If all you want to do is get drunk the latter will work fine – but there’s a price to be paid later.  This is a video to be savored rather than guzzled.  You will want to watch it more than once just to make sure you didn’t miss anything the first time.

Having waxed rhapsodic about the movie in general terms it’s time to get down to specifics.

Scene One:  Allie Haze and Kiki Daire

We open with a monologue delivered by Shay in which she describes herself and her sexual pathology.  Then we cut to a lesbian bar where Shay goes to stalk lesbian couples so that she can follow them home and play Peeping Tom (Tomasina?) to their sexual encounters.  Our first couple is Allie Haze and Kiki Daire.  Kiki is a young mother and college teacher.  She and Allie have met on line and we first see them in a brief scene at the bar where they meet in the flesh for the first time.  We know they’re going to go somewhere and have sex (otherwise there’s no movie), but the cool part is that we get to see the tentative awkwardness of first encounters.  We are led to believe that this is a first for both women and they do an excellent job of the I-lead-you-lead waltz before getting down to the hot passionate love making that Nica’s productions are known for.  And, in the background, doing exactly what WE are doing, is Shay Laren, watching and participating vicariously in other people’s sex lives.

Watching a Nica Noelle adult video requires patience if you’re someone who just wants the performers to strip and get down to business.  I pity you if that’s where you’re at.  In fact, I would recommend that you avoid this video if that is the case.  Again, it’s like the difference between sipping fine brandy from a balloon glass and gunning shots of cheap whiskey.  Personally I like to see the slow build up of passion if the performers are up to the task of giving it to us.  Kiki and Allie are more than up to the task and the subtle music track adds a sensual back ground to the foreplay.

The full on girl-girl sex delivers on the promise of the set up and awkwardness gives way to passion.  After watching for a while, Shay goes home to masturbate, lost in her vicarious world where she would be free to pursue the kind of relationships she secretly desires.  It is both sad and arousing at the same time because Nica is showing us ourselves in some respects – lonely porn watchers masturbating in front of television and computer screens living out our own fantasies of sexual fulfillment and freedom.

Scene Two:  Shay Laren Solo

Having perved on Allie and Kiki, Shay needs relief and we, in our turn, perv on Shay, playing voyeur to her exhibition of solo passion.  I’m not a big fan of solo scenes usually but this one is both contextually necessary to the story and a pleasure to watch.  Shay pleasures herself with great intensity – is that just a hint of desperation?  We know what she’s thinking, and we’re thinking it right along with her – the images of Allie and Kiki making love still fresh in our minds.  This is one of the most intense female masturbation scenes I’ve ever watched.  Once again Nica delivers layers of texture and meaning rather than just allowing us to watch someone get naked and play with the happy spot.

Scene Three:  Ash Hollywood and Sovereign Syre

Of course Shay’s pathology can’t just be a one-off.  Each new episode forces her forward to the next and provides the movie’s main motive force.   Shay has an itch that she cannot scratch and so we see her once again trolling for lesbians in a bar waiting for them to hook up and go home so that she can start her cycle of voyeurism all over again.  Does she realize that she can never be satisfied by living her life through others?  Does she understand?  Do these questions make you uncomfortable?  Will this writer ever get back to talking about the sex?

So, Shay goes back to the bar and this time she picks up a troubled couple played by Sovereign Syre and Ash Hollywood.  Ash is tipsy and playful, hitting on Shay.  Sovereign finally shows up and drags Ash out.  Of course, Shay follows, and we have our third scene.

Ash does a terrific job of playing the bubble headed , pleasantly intoxicated, girlfriend, and Sovereign Syre does an equally terrific job of portraying the aggrieved girlfriend having to be “the adult” in the situation.  Ash seeks to placate her partner, and that’s how the sex starts.  Shay, of course, has found a convenient spot to watch the show.  Personally, I think I had a better view…

Ash Hollywood is the instigator, but Sovereign is still upset and takes over the scene almost as soon as they hit the sofa.  This isn’t make up sex, this is, at least from Sovereign’s point of view, angry sex.  That’s how it starts anyway.  Syre is in charge, but Hollywood has no reason to complain.  The sex is raw, intense, and extremely erotic.  It is entirely different from the first scene and just as enjoyable to watch. I love watching Sovereign Syre with another woman and Ash Hollywood is easy on the eyes.  There’s something for the foot fetish enthusiasts here and a decent tribbing sequence as well.

Scene Four:  Shay Laren Solo Redux

Shay Laren eventually goes home, alone and frustrated, to seek solace in the only way she has to express her sexuality – masturbation.  Having established that this is what Shay does after her voyeuristic escapades, Nica could have just skipped this, but she gives us a second scene of Shay masturbating, albeit a briefer one.  Though shorter, this scene is no less effective or erotic than the first.  Shay Laren is a beautiful woman and she is able to convince us that there is no camera in the room with her, no production crew, lighting guy, microphone grip, or director – it’s just her.  The moment captured is as intimate as it is intense.  But we’re not through.  Shay eventually has to go out again to seek another couple to watch.

Scene 5:  Katsuni and Sharon Lee

The beautiful and exotic Katsuni with her incredibly erotic French accent is always a treat for the senses anytime she appears on my monitor.  Sharon Lee, whom I was seeing for the first time, is also beautiful and exotic (i.e. Asian – is that racial profiling on my part?).  Shay spots them at her favorite hang out.  Now this is where the scene takes a turn.  Katsuni has her eyes on Sharon and strikes up a conversation in, wait for it, French.  Did Nica write French dialogue?  Were Katsuni and Sharon Lee improvising?  My 9^th grade French was quickly overwhelmed and I caught about one word in ten.  It didn’t matter.  The bottom line is that the seduction was successful and the two lovely ladies left the bar together stalked by Shay Laren.

Neither Katsuni nor Sharon Lee speaks a word of English in this scene and during the sex that adds a little spice to what is already a very erotic sequence.  The movements are graceful – it’s like watching two ballet dancers make love – their focus on each other palpable, and the overall effect is mesmerizingly erotic.  It’s a good finishing scene.

But what of Shay and her psycho-sexual issues?  Is she doomed forever to play the outsider, standing alone watching the game while everyone else plays before going home to her lonely room and her onanistic pursuits?  We don’t get answers to these questions.  Perhaps, in a sequel, we’ll see Shay in some sort of treatment setting (Nica plays a great therapist, we already know this).  Who knows?  It’s important that we think it matters and I believe that was Nica’s intent.  I could be wrong, of course.

Final Thoughts

This is an outstanding release from Girl Candy.  The psycho-emotional exploration here is reminiscent of A Father’s Lust.  Nica Noelle presents us with a study in sexual and emotional dysfunction in Lesbian Voyeur and she makes us care about the central character, Shay Laren.  The rest of the characters aren’t as fully developed but the portrayals feel real and so does the sex.

The videography is excellent, the sound track is well executed and evocative, the editing is precise and without glitches, and there were no technical issues of any kind that I noticed. 

I strongly recommend this video for purchase and/or rental.  All the usual caveats apply, of course, i.e. “your mileage may vary,”  “one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor,” and that sort of thing.  Bon appétit!