Call Girl
Dir: Mikael Marcimain
Sweden / Norway / Finland / Ireland: 140 min • GarageFilm International • August 16, 2013
Andrew Darley reviews
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Call Girl tracks the operations of a high-class prostitution ring in Sweden during the 1970s. It opens, ironically, with a television interview featuring a forerunning politician in an upcoming election, who is applauded for his views on how the country is making advances in women’s rights and gender issues. From there, the film shifts from the political and cultural atmosphere of the time and focuses on the life of Iris, a 14 year old girl who is placed into foster care by her mother for her constant bad behaviour. Whilst in care, the cantankerous teenager looks for excitement outside of the confines of the home and starts exploring Stockholm city by night.
Iris soon rubs shoulders with other girls in the home who invite her and fellow friend, Sonja, to a house party. Once they get there, they are requested to perform a private strip show for a questionable-looking man. The two girls, initially awkward with the situation, go ahead with it. However when the girls are asked to return, they are walked in on and set upon by ringleaders of a prostitution circuit. Coaxed with money, alcohol and a place to say, Iris and Sonja find themselves in the clutch of the outfit, sleeping with some of the most prolific businessmen, lawyers and politicians in Sweden.
Call Girl opens with a declaration that it is based on true events. It centres on the political scandal now known as Bordellhärvan, which involved an active sex trafficking group involving underage girls, whose customers were from the highest ranks of Swedish society and government. The film’s title may be slightly misleading in suggesting that it solely focuses on a girl who falls into the corrupt profession. Rather, director Mikael Marcimain attempts an all-encompassing account of events by also following the detectives in their efforts to expose the criminal activity, as well as the life and dealings of the pimps.
It’s no surprise that Call Girl is based on real events. Its tone is methodologically factual in presenting the operation of this underworld and the corruption that lay in the heart of the law when one detective who attempts to stop it. However, it is this thoroughness to capture all angles of the event which obstructs the pace of the film and lessens its impact. Clocking up at 140 minutes, it shuffles between the drama of the girl’s overturned lives, the crooks at the helm of the scandal and the detective’s chase to stop them. In doing so, it feels unnecessarily drawn out in parts and its flow may have benefited from a more critical eye in the editing room.
Overall, Call Girl is a satisfying watch albeit a little disappointing. It is carried by the strong performances of its cast, particularly Pernilla August who nails the icy and seductive charm of the head trafficker. It captures an interesting and conflicting time of social change in Sweden, since political attitudes and actions appeared to be moving towards liberalism and gender equality. Yet Marcimain exposes the reality of the country’s thriving sex industry, which placed women at the bottom to satisfy the men at the top.
