The choice of London provides a modern, urban contrast to the traditional settings of the director's earlier works, influencing the visual tone of the film.
The original Italian title, Trasgredire , is a brilliant play on words, blending trasgredire ("to transgress") and tradire ("to betray"). This dual meaning perfectly captures the film's central conflict: a beautiful young woman whose actions both challenge social norms and threaten her primary relationship. In English, the film was marketed under the less provocative but equally fitting title, Cheeky , which hints at its playful, lighthearted, and sexually audacious spirit.
Exploring the Bold Eroticism of Tinto Brass: Tra(sgre)dire (Cheeky) 2000 trasgredire cheeky tinto brass 2000 tras link
Reviews on Letterboxd and IMDb categorize it as a "sex comedy" or "semicore," noting its blend of graphic content with lighthearted, comedic narrative arcs.
Serves as the seductive, assertive London real estate agent. The choice of London provides a modern, urban
. This erotic comedy serves as a manifesto for Brass's "new world order"—a vision defined by sexual autonomy, the rejection of traditional jealousy, and the unabashed celebration of female sensuality.
The narrative follows Carla (played by Yuliya Mayarchuk), a young woman who travels from Venice to London. This transition serves as a catalyst for the character's exploration of a different cultural environment. In English, the film was marketed under the
Internationally, the reception was also mixed, though often more playful. One IMDb reviewer described Trasgredire as a "cheeky and playful adult film that embraces its soft-porn identity... a quick dive into the world of seduction and betrayal". A common sentiment among some English-language reviewers was that the film is at its best when it doesn't take itself too seriously. One wrote that "Tinto's work is always best when he doesn't take himself seriously, and Trasgredire is a movie that demands to be taken with as little seriousness as possible". The film was praised for its lush, colorful visuals, with the opening sequence singled out as being "sweet, sexy, funny, fast-paced". However, some felt the film fell apart in its second half, becoming bogged down by a "pretentious attempt to make some kind of point about human sexuality".
Visually, the film is characterized by Brass's famous obsession with the female derrière. He famously claimed that "the ass doesn't lie," in contrast to the face, which can be a "hypocrite mask". This fixation is on full display throughout the film's many voyeuristic and crotch-centric shots. The film also draws certain parallelisms with Nerosubianco (1969), an earlier Brass film also set in London.
Upon its release in Italy on January 28, 2000, Trasgredire caused the kind of controversy one might expect from a Tinto Brass film. Its provocative promotional posters were reportedly threatened with being torn down across Rome by political figures, a "notch in the belt of disrespect Brass received".
The director makes his signature, Alfred Hitchcock-style cameo appearance. Artistic Themes and Visual Style