The Oldest Profession

The Oldest Profession is a 1967 internationally co-produced comedy film. It features contributions from six different film directors, each one doing a segment on prostitution through the ages. Plot The Prehistoric Era – The cavewoman Brit is unable to attract a visiting trader until the wall painter Rak has the idea of making up her face. Roman Nights – In ancient Rome, the Emperor Flavius makes an excuse to leave the Empress Domitilla and go with the poet Menippus to a brothel. There he meets a mysterious and beautiful woman who proves to be his wife. Mademoiselle Mimi – During the French Revolution, Philibert asks to visit Mimi and from her window watches an old aristocrat being guillotined, saying it was his childless uncle. Promising to pay her as soon as the lawyers have settled the estate, he disappears. The Gay Nineties – In Paris in the 1890s, Nini goes to bed with a lonely old man and, looking through his wallet once he is asleep, finds he is a partner in a major bank. Refusing to take any money, she says she is in love with him and in the end lets him marry her. Paris Today – Catherine, who has lost her driving licence, works from a car driven by her friend Nadia. When the car is impounded, they buy an ambulance instead. One night it is stopped by police, who depart when they discover that the client is a doctor. Anticipation – In the future, a man from a remote space outpost visits Earth and at the spaceport hotel is offered a prostitute for the night. He rejects the girl, Marlène, as she is incapable of conversation. His hosts then find him another girl, Eléonore, who is full of charm and chat, but reluctant to go further. He persuades her that the mouth she uses so well could have further uses. Cast Prehistoric Era (directed by Franco Indovina) Michèle Mercier as Brit Enrico Maria Salerno as Rak Gabriele Tinti as the trader (as Gabriel Tinti)