Ellen Barkin bares her voluptuous bod again in this erotic, cracker jack thriller. Barkin, who co-starred opposite sexy Dennis Quaid in The Big Easy, can be seen parading her stuff in this beguiling rendezvous of surrealism and blood-laced sex.

The opening shot finds Barkin laying in an open field with a tatterred red dress, only partially on her bloodied body. From the very beginning of Siesta, there are a lot of questions. Who is this woman? What is she doing in these European backwoods? And, most importantly, is she even alive?

To answer any of the questions would be to ruin the story. Meanwhile, you'll be floating along with Barkin's escapades, which will have you peeping in on quite a few sexual situations, some of them brutal. The culmination of her strange experience, a liaison with Gabriel Byrne, is as steamy a scene as has been seen on movie screens since last year's A Man In Love.

Siesta has sordid undertones, as Barkin is hopelessly in love with her former lover (Byrne), already married to Isabella Rossellini. In the aforementioned scene, Rossellini walks in on Barkin and Byrne, entwined in ravenous sex and becomes bloodthirsty.

Although it had limited theatrical release, Siesta should ring up some hefty dollars on retailers' cash registers. Sexy blonde Ellen Barkin, if not already a bona fide star, is emerging as one of Hollywood's most dependable actresses. This is a wonderful, surrealistic and erotic film.