Drenched in the retro stylings of its period setting, Mikael Marcimain’s Call Girl adds a dose of 70s conspiracy thriller to this account of a teenager’s induction into the Swedish sex trade. Adapting a real life prostitution scandal as its basis, the drama looks to examine the rotten underside to the country’s liberal policies of this era whilst focusing on one unsavoury practice. Pernilla August provides a fittingly deplorable madame, but the generic nature of the narrative’s duel identities holds it back from truly soaring.
Sofia Karemyr is Iris, a 14 year-old serial runaway whose mother takes her to live in a halfway home for delinquent girls. She is soon sneaking out every night with best friend Sonja (Josefin Asplund) and before long they’ve attracted the salacious gaze of Dagmar Glans (August). Glans supplies girls to the rich and powerful and is not above exploiting vulnerable young hellions, but she is attracting attention herself. This comes from the watchful eyes of the local police and particularly John (Simon Berger). Meanwhile, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s David Dencik plays an governmental advisor key in supplying Glans’ women to his political overlords.
Decik is joined by fellow Tinker Tailor alum, Hoyte van Hoytema, behind the camera and he gives the film’s visuals a suitably nostalgic aesthetic. In front of his camera, August, Karemyr and Berger do most of the heavy lifting with good, if never outstanding performances. It makes for enjoyable but not arresting viewing with neither of the two concurrent plotlines ever really covering new ground. Iris’ envelopment in Glans’ seedy world is all too familiar and the conspiracy never moves past the most conventional of genre territory.
Despite inciting a desire for a more streamlined story, both aspects provide a critique of the much vaunted forward-thinking liberality. This utopian image is alluded to whilst its reality is presented as corrupt, exploitative and no less male-orientated. It gives the film its most interesting element even if it’s not quite enough to raise the overall piece above other similarly inclined dramas.
Extras: Just the theatrical trailer to whet the appetite before the main feature.
Ben has awarded Call Girl on DVD three Torches of Truth
