Nobody does taboo sex and soap opera melodrama like the one and only Joe Sarno. One of a few films that this genuine auteur or seventies sex films made in Europe during the seventies, Daddy, Darling presents an exploitative take on what is probably the ultimate sexual taboo (or at least one of them) - incest.

The film follows Katja (the beautiful Helle Louise), a nineteen year old girl who is very, erm, attached to her father, Eric (Ole Wisborg). Since her mother passed away and the two have been left alone, they've had a very close relationship. Now that Katja has blossomed into womanhood, however, things are starting to get a little strange and she finds herself wanting dad's attentions for a different, more primal reason than those of a mere girl. When daddy becomes involved with a foxy woman named Svea (Gio Petre), Katja becomes extremely jealous and decides to turn things up a notch to make sure that her father only has eyes for her. She goes out and buys some lingerie which she parades around the house in and when that doesn't work, she basically throws herself at him and asks him to spend the night in her bed. He wisely refuses and leaves the room rather concerned, but this concern isn't enough to prevent Katja from taking matters into her own hands.

When Eric asks Svea to marry him, Katja tells her father that his bride to be is a whore and moves in with her friend Lisa (Kyo Feza) and her mother. Katja soon learns that Lisa's mother is sleeping with a young man named Lars (Soren Stromberg)... and so is Lisa who isn't ashamed to boff her boy toy in the room while she thinks Katja is sleeping. Frustrated as frustrated can be, Katja decides to take up art and spends long hours at school working out her emotions on canvas rather than dealing with her problems at home. Eventually her art teacher invites her to attend a showing at the home of a fellow artist, Lena, who is only too keen on inviting Katja in for a little art appreciation of her own. This allows Katja to let go of some of the anger she feels for her father and as such, things mellow out with Svea... or so it seems. Katja isn't even close to finished with her sexual awakening or with her experimentation.

Directed with the usual sense of style that Sarno always brought to his projects, Daddy, Darling is an interesting and super sexualized take on the incest theme that may very well have gone on to influence the infamous XXX film, Taboo (and it's various sequels of dubious quality). Sarno is smart enough to treat the subject matter reasonably maturely, exploring the relationship between Katja and Eric with a fair bit of sensitivity. While this is a sexploitation picture through and through, it's at least an intelligent one with some honest psychological depth to it. Katja's lust for her father stems from her childhood and her character is given a reason beyond the want for simple physical pleasure to pine away for dad's embrace.

The film is well shot with some slick camerawork and makes excellent use of a nice, moody soundtrack that fits the tone of the picture well. Performances are better across the board than you'd probably expect, though Helle Louise is rightfully the real star of the film. She brings a fantastic sense of sexual naiveté to her performance that makes the second half of the film all the more interesting and she's not only completely believable in the part, but she's plenty easy on the eyes as well. This might not be the best Sarno film to start with if you're new to his work (which can be a bit of an acquired taste in some ways) but those who already know they dig his films or Euro-sleaze in general really ought to think about picking this one up.