This fable on the middle classes by Italian enfant terrible Pier Paolo Pasolini was banned in his native country and he was charged with obscenity by the Italian government (although he was later acquitted).

A youthful Terence Stamp, then at the height of his physical beauty, is an angelic stranger who ingratiates himself into the home of a rich industrialist and eventually sleeps with every member of his family.

The message - that the only thing people can't control is sex - is clear, although the film can be slightly confusing at times.

Laura Betti, as the family maid, won the Best Actress award at the 1968 Venice Film Festival.

Pasolini later revealed that he had wanted Orson Welles in the cast, but never made it clear whether for Stamp's role or that of the father figure.