Janet Maslin of
The New York Times praised the ambiguous nature of Hélène and Lucie's relationship; "its teasing is effective, thanks particularly to Miss Sanda, who is as beautiful and insolently alluring here as she has ever been. With timing that is constantly surprising, with a knowing sensuality just this side of brazeness, Miss Sanda is enough reason to see the movie. And she and Miss Chaplin share an abandon that is intricately balanced, and gracefully played." Maslin felt that the film was "finally aimless" but that it was still "seductive all the same." Critic Rob Schmeider wrote that the film "has the distinction of succeeding brilliantly as pornography; like most pornography it must suffer the fate of being born into a man's world; but it is still head and tails above most films with ostensibly lesbian characters." The French weekly ''
L'Express said it is a "masterpiece of eroticism" and Le Monde'' stated it is "enchanting and tender." Nancy Scott from
The San Francisco Examiner observed that the "fifteen collaborators each contributed an anecdote and these are on the whole, more interesting than the plot proper, which has the look of an ad hoc construction built to house the smaller stories; the movie wanders from one idea of feminine friendship to another and some are true, some contrived, and some just silly; the plot proper would probably collapse entirely if it were not for the performances by Chaplin and Sanda." ==Filming locations==