CALL GIRL C
Sweden Ireland Norway Finland (140 mi) 2012 d: Mikael Marcimain
Sweden Ireland Norway Finland (140 mi) 2012 d: Mikael Marcimain
While there could be an engrossing story here, sexual
intrigue stripped from the headlines, inspired by a real-life scandal in the
1970’s when a madam named Doris Hopp was convicted of running a prostitution
ring servicing clients in the highest levels of the Swedish government, but
this rather uninspiring, conventionally made thriller is not the one to do
it. Apparently first-time feature director
Mikael Marcimain has spent his career making Swedish television mini-series,
which is exactly what this film resembles in every respect, where every
artistic choice has been compromised.
Instead of the bombshell journalistic exposé it pretends to be, it’s
little more than a rehashing of unproven allegations, making little distinction
between what’s real and alleged, becoming a tepid, overlong, though often
sexually explicit, television drama. Outside
of the vice detective John Sandberg (Simon J. Berger), a surveillance expert
whose dogged pursuit was continually sabotaged by the higher-ups within his own
police department who were aiding and abetting by providing a buffer or safe zone for
political heavyweights, the rest of the casting choices are all questionable,
including Pernilla August as the deviously manipulating madam. If she had just played a behind-the-scenes,
hard-nosed business entrepreneur, her savvy smarts would have been perfect for
the role, but her less than flattering naked appearances as a sexually alluring
object of desire were sadly misguided.
Television is the optimum medium through which political views are continuously
expressed, where there’s a constant dialogue taking place with the Swedish
public about liberalizing sex crimes, including flowery speeches by incumbent
Prime Minister Olof Palme, one of a continuing line of forty years of
unbroken rule by the same party, and also his opponent Thorbjörn Fälldin in the upcoming election. A blatant theme of sexual permissiveness runs
throughout the film, so holier than thou and morally reprimanding that in
hindsight it has a scolding “I told you so” quality about it. Deeply submerged to the point of omission is
the fact that at the time of the scandal, prostitution in Sweden was legal,
where the the underlying political concern wasn’t sex per se, but politicians openly
sharing security secrets with the same prostitutes that also serviced foreign
embassies.
Set in Stockholm in 1976, the narration unfolds using a
two-tiered approach, a secret surveillance operation conducted by a mousy Sandberg
that eventually infiltrates the corridors of political power, and two 14-year
old girls, Iris Dahl (Sofia Karemyr) and her cousin Sonja (Josefin Asplund),
where much of the film is seen through the vantage point of Iris’s youthful
rebellion, including her intoxicating allure into such a profitable business
operation, as well as the often life-threatening difficulty getting out. Disowned by her own mother after her seventh
runaway, she’s handed over to the welfare division that places her in a youth
home run with the naïve belief that all these kids need is a good hug. Something of a snot-nosed kid, arrogant and
deeply unappreciative, she ignores every rule set out for her, but what’s not
immediately clear is why she doesn’t run away again, as there’s no real incentive
to stay there, lingering far too long in this early segment where it’s clear Karemyr
is a pretty girl but a clueless actress.
Things perk up once her cousin joins her, but she’s an even worse
actress, where the two sneak out together nearly every night. Following the lead of two other girls from
the group home, they get involved in the sex business, where initially it just
involves dancing topless, plied with all the alcohol they can drink, something
they find silly and amusing. August
plays Dagmar Glans, who along with her protective muscle Glenn (Sven Nordin)
monopolize the high end sex trade, taking a particular liking to Iris, quickly
spoiling her with compliments, earning her trust, as Iris becomes one of her
most favored clients, largely due to her underage status. A rift inevitably develops between the two
girls, as Iris is the golden girl, treated like royalty by Glans, where money
just flows into their hands, more than they know what to do with, leaving Sonja
a bit jealous, with a growing disinterest in the demeaning sexualization of the
trade. When Iris mentions an interest in
both of them getting out, Glans immediately sets her straight with a quick slap
in the mouth, hinting that the last girl who made similar suggestions
accidentally fell off a Finnish ferry and drowned. Instead Glans just sends her on more
exclusive assignments where Iris is the talk of the town, expressed in a neverending
dream-like orgy of drugs, sex, alcohol, and choice disco sounds from Abba to
the BeeGees and George
McCrae - Rock Your Baby - YouTube (6:01).
The police procedural aspect of the film is far more muddied
and easily the most disappointing aspect of the film, despite the efforts of
Berger who really nails his role as the persistently hounding, eavesdropping ear
to Glans’s phone calls, taking surreptitious photos of her clients, and the
only man in the film who has a clear idea of his investigation’s impact, as
it’s the kind of scandal that would bring down a government, linking underage
girls to the Justice Minister, a Finnish ambassador, and two Prime Ministers,
including Olof
Palme (murdered in 1986), whose family sued the filmmaker for “gross
defamation of character,” charges that were subsequently dropped by the current
Justice Minister. While Marcimain paints
the political moral hypocrisy with broad strokes, he is remiss in providing facts,
incriminating details, and linking evidence, and instead stains the entire
era as one of outward decadence and perverse overindulgence, where the film
only goes so far as to suggest this version of events “may” have happened. While Marietta von Hausswolff von
Baumgarten's script is clearly slanted towards the viewpoints of the young
girls, their version of events has never been proven, only insinuated, which
makes much of this material feel exploitive.
Marcimain only worsens the efforts with an overly loud and aggressive
music score, the kind heard in exploitation films. It’s not surprising that Sandberg comes
across as the only sympathetic adult, one of the few fully developed
characters, as he’s the only one fighting against the corrupt conspiracy of
power that continually hides behind a shield of mafia tactics by destroying
evidence and murdering potential witnesses, never prosecuting anyone except
Glans, an easy target since they have her on tape. The rest of the entire field of politicians
are merely cardboard cutouts, one indistinguishable from the next, deadening
the interest and overall impact, which comes to a giant thud at the end. Instead of the great American paranoid
political conspiracy thrillers of the 70’s which this attempts to emulate, like
Alan J. Pakula’s KLUTE (1971) and THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974) or Roman Polanski’s
CHINATOWN (1974), all of which escalate the dramatic tension building towards a
momentous event, this film lacks the intelligence and sophisticated nuance and simply
fizzles out at the end, a major disappointment and let down, suggesting perhaps
they might have approached this from a different angle, as all the intrigue and suspense
simply evaporates into thin air.
