Nympha: Good viewing even sans sex scenes

I don’t think there could be a sexier girl’s name than Nympha and it was just appropriate Celso Ad. Castillo used it for the title of one of his earlier films in the 1970s. (Almost a decade later, Joey Gosiengfiao came up with Nimfa, starring Alma Moreno).

Today, Celso Ad. Castillo is back with a new Nympha (which he refuses to call a remake) and the people are curious how different it is from his 1971 Nympha, which launched as a bomba star a previously unknown Zamboangueña named Rizza.

Unfortunately, it would not have been possible for me to have seen that first Nympha and there are no copies of this film that exist today – so I’ve been told. What I did therefore was to flip open the Urian anthology published by Manoling Morato were – luckily – there was a review of Nympha by Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr.

According to Del Mundo’s article, Nympha "begins and ends with a scene in the cemetery." In between is an exposition of her life.

Raised by her hypocritically religious aunt Nana Charing (Bella Flores), Nympha’s sexual awakening begins when she sees another couple making it out off their yard and, later, when she finally engages in sex herself with her boyfriend Nilo (Philip Gamboa).

Her sexual appetite, however, proves to be insatiable. She eventually gives herself to other men – even to a worthless bum (Romy Diaz) who had long been lusting after her. When she finds herself pregnant, she tries to get an abortion, except that it fails and she dies bleeding.

The currently showing Nympha, starring Maricar de Mesa, is also about nymphomania. (Alma Moreno incidentally, is also a nymphomaniac in her Nimfa movie). In this new version, Nympha as an infant is found by Gloria Diaz and her brother Archie Ventosa floating on a bed of water lilies. A spinster, Gloria is utterly conservative and deeply religious. She offers Nympha to the Lord and forbids her to go outside the house except to go to church to hear Mass and pray all those novenas.

But a nymphomaniac is a nymphomaniac and you cannot cure her by surrounding her with religious icons and making her recite endless novenas to all the saints in heaven.

Young and attractive, it is quite easy for Nympha to get her men – a carpenter (Cholo Medina) doing repair work at their house, a carabao-bound traveling salesman of native products (Joseph Hizon) and even the local boatman (Bing Victoria).

The twist in this new version of Nympha is that the lead character is found dead in the cemetery with a slash on her neck (this is told early on in the story) and the movie becomes a whodunit.

In his review of the first Nympha movie, Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. pointed out the fine technical elements of the film – particularly the lighting and cinematography. But he questions the film’s structure, which he called "untenable." If I may quote the English translation that accompanies his review that was written in Pilipino, here is part of it: Because of this structure, the director forgot to pursue the movie’s thematic conflict, which is hypocritical morality versus a sexually promiscuous world. As a result, there are gaps in the story and inconsistencies between the psychological makeup of the characters and their behavior.

Fortunately, I have no major issues with the new Nympha. Although it is nowhere near Castillo’s award-winning Pagputi ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak, at least it is well-made and you see all the attempts to make it stand way, way above other sex flicks.

After the long dry spell of quality films – broken only by the showing of occasional gems like Munting Tinig, Mano Po, Dekada and most recently, Magnifico – it is just refreshing to see a film that does not insult the intelligence of the viewer.

But then, we’re forgetting that this is a film by Celso Ad. Castillo we are talking about. But then again, wasn’t he gone for so long in the movie scene (except for occasional acting parts in some films by other directors)? Maybe he could have gone rusty. Wrong.

On the contrary, his vision about his film today (at least based on the new Nympha) seems even clearer. Now, I’m not saying that his vision about his past movies was muddled, but hey, there were occasions when some of his films got a bit too convoluted.

Here in Nympha, you see a nice clean streamlining and yet the audience is still kept in suspense as to who killed the lead character.

The old Celso Ad. Castillo touch is definitely still there. In fact, you appreciate his artistry now more than ever – especially when compared to the works of some of the new breed of directors today.

The story of Nympha isn’t really much. But trust Celso Ad. to make something wonderful out of it by staging his scenes in a manner that only he can do. The result is a movie with a fine flavor and texture that is savory to the sense of the viewer.

Even the sex scenes are done in a way that each one brings out the sensuality of the screen characters (this is sex film, remember?) – particularly Maricar de Mesa, who turns out to be quite impressive in this movie. With those big round eyes, she is really perfect for the role as she evokes fire and passion. Properly guided by her director, she delivers a creditable enough performance in this rather delicate role.

Gloria Diaz, of course, could do no wrong anymore at this point of her acting career and it was a pleasure to watch her in another movie by Celso Ad. Castillo (her first director)– but this time with more confidence, depth and substance in her performance.

Nympha – even if you take out the sex scenes – is still good viewing. It is well put together in spite of its rather bare storyline. Of course, it is not that important a film that it would stop America from waging its war against Iraq. But for the mature and adult viewer who enjoys an occasion sex flick or two, it can be a temporary relief from some of the problems of the world at the moment.