An exploitative movie with substance. A movie showing how prostitution can be like slavery, whilst showing it in ways that are exploitative. I have never seen another exploitation movie that borders on hardcore pornography at times as much as this does. The story between the main character and her parents is actually heartbreaking and brings the exploitative into drama. The filmmaking is brilliant. Great use of super slow motion editing, a character who has go through trials and tribulations for her revenge, the best yellow color palette I've ever seen in a movie, and one of the most iconic and influential characters to come from an exploitation movie. Just like the movies it influenced like Ms .45 the main character becomes an antihero at times and gets lost in vengeance so much so that you start to question them.
An example of the beautiful yellow color palette
The movie starts with a young girl Madeleine, being sexually abused in the woods. This is one of the few scenes in the movie that does not feel exploitative and more real compared to later. Years later, Madeleine is a mute as a result of the encounter. After going to one of her doctor's appointments in the city she misses a bus ride home. A man named Tony (Heinz Hopf) takes her out and brings her back to his place. Tony proceeds to drug her drink. He then injects her with heroin for 10 days so she becomes dependent and makes her a prostitute. He also writes letters to her parents saying that she hates them and wants to be away from them. This eventually drives her parents to suicide.
While seeing her first "client" Madeleine scratches him in the face, prompting Tony to stab one of her eyes making her blind in one eye. She is called One Eye afterwards. She is subject to brutal sex by one client and she is assaulted by a female client. Eventually Madeleine meets Sally (Solveig Andersson) who tells her of her own plan to escape and go to rehab with extra money she has been stashing. Madeleine starts going into town for karate lessons, shooting lessons, and driving lessons.
Spoiler Section
Madeleine eventually buys a car and a double barreled shotgun. She uses that to kill her other clients. The movie ends with her tying Tony's neck to a horse while the rest of his body is trapped by rocks. She watches him suffocate to death.
I love so much of the filmmaking here. When Madeleine starts to get revenge it is great. She earns it. Not just by having us suffer with her showing us what Tony and the other clients do to her but also by having all the different montages of her lessons and showing her getting better while all the different instructors give her feedback. While Lindberg's performance is mostly understated, there is one moment that I can't forget. It is the moment when she goes back to her hometown and sees her parents have committed suicide as the result of her letters. There is a moment where she eavesdrops on a conversation and hears them talking about how it was her fault. A single tear rushes down her eye. An image I can't forget. Something Abel Ferrara quite possibly pulled from this movie for Ms .45 was the changing color of the character's clothing. As Madeleine loses her innocence she starts wearing red instead of yellow, then finally all black at the end. There are other yellow color moments I love in this like the yellow mailbox in one scene, and the yellow couch she sits one in Tony's house. It even goes full circle in a way when you see the first client she kills wearing yellow.
I love the slow-motion editing during the revenge scenes. Not only is it cool for the blood squibs, but also really cool for the reactions, the scattered flying objects, and the smoke and muzzle flashes from her guns. I love the slow spurt of blood when the police officer spits it out after she hits him. I don't necessarily love the color of the blood which kinda looks like hot sauce but I go with it. The score is really cool too. Some great use of organ at times but it also has that psychedelic feel at times.
As much I enjoyed this I thought it could have been shorter. As much as I love the super slow motion scenes they go on a little long, specifically the part with the cops fighting her. The same can be said for all the more hardcore nudity and sex scenes where you literally see full on testicles, vagina, and anus. It was like a porno and that surprised me. Most movies with sex I always say is nothing compared to a porno and this was actually like one at times during the scenes with one particular client. While the scenes are many and long it does make you feel more angry and you just want the vengeance to come sooner so when it does you are happier. There are a few plot holes here too. Again this is an exploitation movie but I can't believe the parents either didn't recognize her handwriting. Now if the letters Tony sent were typed that I can understand. The whole drug addiction thing I don't quite get either. Yes drug addiction is one thing but the movie makes it seem like the women will die without drugs which isn't accurate.
At a certain point Madeleine's quest for revenge becomes so consuming that she starts assaulting police officers, though that was just to get away. She also gets into a car chase and kills many innocent bystanders in car explosions. While I never turned against her it made me think that she has no chance to be likable after the vengeance is over. That was her purpose. I'm glad the movie ends with just her getting the vengeance because you know things couldn't have gone well for her after that. I am wondering if the They Call Her One Eye version of the movie is more up my alley in terms of pacing, though I'm sure there are a.lot of the more lurid elements cut out.
Rating: 9/10
Trivia: Christina Lindberg has said she didn't appear in any of the hardcore sex scenes in the film. The nudity we do see of her looks good though.
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