Laure (1976)

The daughter of Pastor Olsen, Laure is a beautiful, uninhibited seventeen-year-old who lives in Manila. One day she happens to meet Nicholas, an English newsreel cameraman and documentary filmmaker, and decides to join him on an expedition to the legendary Mara people, whose sexual customs they learned about from Professor Morgan. Before setting off on their exotic adventure, Laure and Nicholas marry, having discovered that they share the same principles and the belief that loving someone means allowing them the freedom to live as they choose. Although Laure is willing to have any erotic experience, she remains pure, and for that reason truly free. Guided by Arawa, a local man, they travel to the land of the Mara—the island of Emmelle—with Professor Morgan and his friend Myrte. Nathalie, the professor’s wife, who is accustomed to dividing her sexual attention between her husband and Myrte, stays behind in Manila. Laure, however, realizes that she is surrounded by petty people, slaves to money or social prestige. Even Nicholas, who at first seemed to her the ideal man, disappoints her. In the end, left alone, Laure is led by a young girl to the indigenous people, who, after an orgiastic night, leave her beneath the rays of the rising sun.