'TWIST' THE KEY TO THIS FARCE.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

Sex farce is a foreign film staple that sometimes seems to get one treatment too many, but in "French Twist," at least, the filmmakers have seized the latest wrinkle - an attraction between women - and pushed it to the limit.

The resulting sex romp is a fierce, funny, rude and charming entertainment that mines the comic situation for all it's worth. Diverting and subversive, it's a genuine crowd-pleaser for sophisticated audiences, though men certainly get the worst of itand may be turned off as a result.

Victoria Abril (Pedro Almodovar's "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" and "High Heels") plays Loli, a well-cared-for housewife and mother (Spanish, like the actress, but living in France) who is blissfully unaware of her husband's nonstop infidelities, but is growing more and more frustrated with his mysterious absences and his lack of interest in bed.

One day a van breaks down in front of the house, and Marijo (Josiane Balasko) a stocky, tough-talking, free spirit with an affinity for women and cigars, comes in to use the phone and stays to fix a clogged sink. When Loli's husband once again cancels on dinner, she asks Marijo to stay. The two discover a lively attraction, which Marijo soon succeeds in pushing into an active sexual flirtation.

When the husband (Alain Chabat) catches on, he's outraged, and drives Loli from the house. She spends the night with Marijo in the wanderer's psychedelic hippie van, and their love affair begins. But when Loli gets tipped off that her husband's been raising more skirts than a tailor, it's her turn to be enraged, and to get the upper hand. She moves her new lover into the house, and the three begin a spitting mad menage a trois that the filmmakers mine for all the tart dialogue, sexual high jinks and plot twists it can offer.

There's lot of rudeness - the husband and his friend (Ticky Holgado) refer to the butch Marijo as "the diesel" or "the dyke," and lots of fit-throwing, fist-throwing and other volatile behavior that gives the story a wicked momentum.

There's also much partial nudity, lighthearted sex scenes and kissing and caressing between women, most of which wouldn't get past the Motion Picture Association of America censor, which is why the film's distributor, Miramax Zoe, is releasing it without an MPAA rating.

Ultimately, it's a raunchy, irreverent story about love - how the interloper causes the philandering husband to realize what a wayward fool he is and fall in love with his neglected wife all over again.

But the filmmakers are too high-spirited to leave things quite so status quo, and the film's final scenes rock the boat once again, and alas, strain credibility perhaps a bit too much.

Renowned French comedian Josiane Balasko, who's married and has children, also wrote and directed the movie, and stars as the decidedly unfeminine Marijo, a role she said she modeled after several lesbian friends.

The character she creates - impish and charming, saucy and unflappable - is one of the delights of the movie, and the company of actors is excellent all around.

The movie, which is in French with subtitles, has won a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film and is France's official entry for the foreign language film Oscar.

THE FACTS

The film: "French Twist" (not rated; nudity, sexual references).

The stars: Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko, Alain Chabat.

Behind the scenes: Directed and written by Josiane Balasko. Produced by Pierre Grunstein for Renn Productions, TFL Films and Les Films. Released by Miramax.

Running time: One hour, 40 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Sunset 5 in Hollywood; Goldwyn Pavilion in West Los Angeles.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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PHOTO

Photo Loli (Victoria Abril) plays a French housewife unaware of the infidelities of her husband (Alain Chabat) in "French Twist."