"We found printed programmes that showed how they were screened at regular hours in the waiting rooms - young men would find out how sex went by watching them before losing their virginity to a prostitute." Wealthy private collectors, who in turn commissioned more dirty movies, bought some of the films - the grandfather of this respectable family house was one, as was King Alfonso XIII of Spain, who had a passion for women with enormous breasts. In this way the pornographic film industry was born. The reactions to Reilhac's film say a lot about the sexual mores of the countries it has been shown in. French audiences have been made up of couples and friends who have found the film hilarious, but in Spain it has been predominantly single men who have gone to see it in secret. "The word of mouth publicity that we were relying on didn't happen there," sighs Reilhac.

"There was a shame element attached to it, which I think has to do with Spain being a Catholic country. The scenes with the nuns and the priest were a big problem because that was perceived as an attack on the church. I had to take out a sequence where the nuns were having penetration with candles. It is illegal to show a desecration of holy objects in Spain." In the UK the film will be released with an R-18 certificate, the designation hitherto confined to hardcore porn only available in licensed sex shops. This is the first time for over a decade that this sort of film has been given a mainstream cinema release. But the chief concern at early screenings here was over the welfare of a dog that provides a service to a lady of dubious moral fibre. "We had a screening at the Chelsea Arts Club in London," says Reilhac. "Two women were very upset about the dog, and they kept asking if it was harmed in any way. I told them that as far as I could tell that little dog was very happy. Thank God I took out the scene with the duck." Nothing is done to the dog; it is the dog that does the doing. Is something done to the duck? "Oh yes, most definitely."

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