The Listener - Lilith Likes to Watch Mystery Month

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Title: The Listener
Year: 2021

Starring: Maisy Taylor, Romeo.

Director: Lidia Ravviso

Synopsis: When Nora moves into a old Victorian house left to her by an unknown Aunt, she can't believe her luck but it doesn't take long for things to turn weird. As she is masturbating one evening she starts to hear some strange noises. From the sound of teeth being brushed to kisses being stolen... she can hear each of her neighbours in HD sound. Her newfound power is a mystery but it isn’t long until she starts to take advantage of it, listening to her neighbours’ private lives and fantasizing in the process. That is, until a mysterious murder upsets the building. - Via LustCinema.com

Lilith's Notes: An erotic murder mystery by the studio that brought us Safe Word.

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"It starts with a feeling."

Welcome to July, everybody!
If you’ve been a long time reader of this blog, or follower of the socials, you’ve probably figured out there’s more to Lilith than just Lilith. Lilith Likes to Watch is a shared project, between me, Lilith, and my editor, Jay Lee Kage, or, Kage, to his friends.

We thought it important to ease Kage’s presence deeper into all of you, so this July, he’s the one picking all the movies and I’m blind as a bat.

We work well together.

So, to start off this month, he selected The Listener…

Nora (played by Maisy Taylor) is an author who is staying in a historic apartment with very thin walls. Every time she tries to find a peaceful pleasure, her hearing comes alive and she can eavesdrop on the lives of the other inhabitants of the apartment building.

She confides this secret to a mystic friend (played by Rudy Jeevanjee) of her’s who is honestly living their best life.

It’s not long before she begins to cultivate her spying into inspiration, and as she writes about how the life within the apartments nourishes her writing.

During one pleasurable night, without intending to, Nora listens to a murder of one the tenants (played by Effie Diaz).

Did Nora really hear what she thought she heard? Can she keep her voyeuristic listening a secret when questioned by Detective Mike (played by Romeo)?

This was a cute little movie! As with most Lust Cinema’s offerings, it looks amazing. The location works and makes the building feel historic and vintage, with winding stairways and wainscoting on the walls and area rugs that look dusty and decades old. It’s lush scenery porn as well as porn porn.

Everyone, in their own way, is beautiful to look at. Women have fair, flawless skin and during their erotic scenes, look as though they stepped out of a Victorian painting. Almost everything Is just a garden of beauty and texture. It’s a colour coordinated catalogue that invites you to watch but you long to step inside and live there.

There is a lot of plot here, and a lot of dialogue. To the point that if you cut the hard core scenes, this could be a mainstream series in the vein of Pushing Daisies or The Good Place or some other quirky Wes Anderson-esque piece. At times it forgets, or maybe the viewer forgets, that it’s a porno.

But, it is certainly a porno.

The erotic scenes are great because they’re not always pure porn. Nora sits at a table and slowly dips her finger into a bowl of cream then indulgently sucks it away. There’s a beautiful scene between two women (Effie Diaz and Honor May) and it is filmed and performed so artfully. It’s not exploitative and it’s just really, really pretty, and, actually kind of mellow. It’s like an erotic comfort-watch.

There’s also a scene wherein Nora has sex with the detective and the way the light plays off everyone’s skin gives the whole scene a feeling the fantastical. Given the ephemeral atmosphere of the movie I honestly thought it was a dream sequence, but to my surprise, it happened in the reality of the film.

In the end, the entire experience renews Nora’s lust for the written word and the craft of writing.

Despite the whole murder of a woman thing, this is a very cozy, lavish, gentle film. I think it’s rather inviting and would possibly be a good watch for someone just venturing into porn watching for personal pleasure or entertainment. It’s not exploitative, it’s inclusive, and it’s not violent or gonzo the way many people expect porn to be.

We’re off to a good start! One down, three to go.

Best Moment: The lesbian scene.

Worst Moment: The confusion surrounding the erotic scene with the detective. The actual scene itself though was good.

LILITH'S SCORE: 4/5

Until next time, my voracious voyeurs. I’m Lilith, and I’m always watching.