The British sex comedies of the 1970s are notorious for failing to be either funny or erotic. For the latter one might blame the censors, but the former is simply a result of innuendo being no longer funny once you pass the nudge-nudge stage. Anyway, this one isn't sexy either, but it does work quite well as a comedy.
In fact, Eskimo Nell is a strange kind of self-spoof, not only spoofing the sex film genre as such but even its own making - the kind of self-reference Douglas Hofstadter would appreciate. Viewers may be inclined to think that the "self-spoof" is faked, but there are persistent rumours that many of the scenes which seem outrageous and surreal (e.g. the script discussion) were very closely based on fact.
