Paprika

Paprika (1991), Tinto Brass's erotic period drama, is available to watch online on iFILM. The setting is Trieste in 1957, just months before brothels are outlawed across Italy. To bankroll her good-for-nothing boyfriend, sheltered country girl Mimma signs on at a house and takes the name Paprika.

From there she drifts from one establishment to the next, learning the trade and growing up fast inside the crowded, noisy world of Italy's licensed houses. Her lover deceives her and vanishes, leaving Paprika on her own — stripped of illusions but increasingly sure of who she is. Among the clients and madams, fate eventually pairs her with an eccentric aristocrat. Debora Caprioglio takes the lead.

Brass, a defining figure in Italian erotic cinema, loosely riffs on Fellini's Nights of Cabiria and John Cleland's Fanny Hill, threading a coming-of-age story through the sensuality: a tale of lost innocence set at the close of an entire era. His trademark look — plush interiors, warm light, lingering close-ups — is unmistakable from the first frame. Strictly one for fans of the genre. Stream Paprika (1991) online on iFILM.