Tarzan-x - Shame Of Jane -
No discussion of Tarzan-X is complete without addressing its male lead, Rocco Siffredi. Today, Siffredi is a legend, the subject of the Netflix documentary Rocco, and a symbol of European adult cinema’s raw edge. But in 1995, he was at a turning point.
Siffredi approached Tarzan-X not as a joke, but as an actor. In interviews years later (translated from Italian), he noted that he studied chimpanzee movements and tried to maintain a "feral, wounded dignity" throughout the shoot. He refused to cut his hair for six months prior. While his costar was performing to the camera, Siffredi was attempting to embody a literary character.
This seriousness creates a tonally bizarre film. You have Rocco, grunting authentically and climbing ropes with actual intensity, juxtaposed against a Jane who occasionally looks off-camera to check her marks. The mismatch is the heart of the film’s charm. It is impossible to tell if Tarzan-X is a masterpiece of deadpan irony or a genuine artistic failure. Perhaps it is both. Tarzan-X - Shame Of Jane -
Director Joe D’Amato is the key to this film’s enduring cult status. D’Amato was a prolific Italian director known for horror (Beyond the Darkness), erotic thrillers, and ultimately, hardcore. But D’Amato had an eye. He didn't shoot porn like a point-and-shoot documentarian.
Tarzan-X is shot like a lush, low-budget jungle adventure. There are tracking shots, slow zooms, and dramatic lighting. D’Amato uses the jungle setting to its full advantage—waterfalls, mud pits, and vine-swinging chases. He treats the sex scenes less as mechanical acts and more as extensions of the action genre. There is a famous sequence where Tarzan fights a panther (a very tired, very bored dog in a black costume) that cuts directly into a passionate encounter. It’s absurd, but it’s cinematic absurdity. No discussion of Tarzan-X is complete without addressing
The keyword "Shame" demands analysis. In the mid-90s, the third-wave feminist movement was grappling with the concept of "sex positivity" versus "sexual objectification." Tarzan-X lands squarely in the muddy middle.
Jane’s arc is a violent deconstruction of shame. Tarzan essentially forces her to confront her body. In one infamous sequence, he tears her dress off and forces her to look at herself in a reflecting pool. "No shame," he growls. "Jane is beautiful." Siffredi approached Tarzan-X not as a joke, but
Critics of the film (and there are few who would defend it as high art) argue that this is simply a justification for coercion dressed in "noble savage" tropes. Supporters of the cult status argue that the film accidentally stumbles into a profound truth: that Tarzan, the "wild man," is the most psychologically healthy character because he has no concept of shame, while Jane, the "civilized" one, is the true pervert.
The "Shame of Jane" is not that she has sex with an ape-man. The shame is that she enjoys it, and her Victorian programming cannot process that joy. This conflict—pleasure vs. propriety—is the only engine the film has.