As the British Board of Film Classification rating appeared on the screen, I heard one of the other people in the audience exclaim "Contains strong sex?!" Well what did she expect of a film called 'Call Girl'? It's based upon real-life events in Sweden during the 1970s. Two juvenile delinquent teenage girls nightly escape from their free-and-easy reform school to sample the fast-paced life of, erm, Stockholm. Eventually they are drawn in the world of pimp Dagmar Glans, who soon has them servicing her client list of top-flight judges and politicians (she's a sort of 1970s' Swedish version of Cynthia Payne, although Payne, as far as I'm aware, was never suspected of pimping under-age girls). Meanwhile a young(ish) police officer charged with investigating Glans finds his efforts stymied by shadowy figures, in an entirely predictable fashion.
This film caused a stir in Sweden for suggesting that Olof Palme, a Prime Minister assassinated in 1986, was one of Glans' clients. But for anyone not versed in Swedish politics that main sensational point is wasted. Instead the viewer watches a rather rambling production which, while diverting enough, feels a bit flabby (like many of Glans' clients, ho ho ho). And those who like their plot lines tied off neatly will be frustrated, as by the end of the film a number of questions still haven't been answered: precisely why were the secret services so keen to interfere in the police investigation? Why did that nasty thing happen to the police officer? What happened to the girl on the bus? But there's an enjoyable central performance from Pernilla August as the tough-as-nails old boot Glans, and it's nice to see some real-life Scandi-crime rather than the often substandard fictional stuff that's spreading across television at the moment. However, I have to question whether a film about the sexual exploitation of young girls needed to feature quite so many topless shots of them...
This film caused a stir in Sweden for suggesting that Olof Palme, a Prime Minister assassinated in 1986, was one of Glans' clients. But for anyone not versed in Swedish politics that main sensational point is wasted. Instead the viewer watches a rather rambling production which, while diverting enough, feels a bit flabby (like many of Glans' clients, ho ho ho). And those who like their plot lines tied off neatly will be frustrated, as by the end of the film a number of questions still haven't been answered: precisely why were the secret services so keen to interfere in the police investigation? Why did that nasty thing happen to the police officer? What happened to the girl on the bus? But there's an enjoyable central performance from Pernilla August as the tough-as-nails old boot Glans, and it's nice to see some real-life Scandi-crime rather than the often substandard fictional stuff that's spreading across television at the moment. However, I have to question whether a film about the sexual exploitation of young girls needed to feature quite so many topless shots of them...