Tense and beautifully shot scenes oozing with political intrigue, exploitation, duty, and the dangers of adolescence combine to create Swedish director Mikael Marcimain’s first feature film, Call Girl. Aided by a killer tension-building soundtrack – a mix of ’70s hits and well-designed synth – the film is an extremely engaging portrayal of a dark and contray time in Sweden’s political history.
Set in Stockholm, 1976, Call Girl tells two tales, which converge at the centre of the film with devastating results. 14-year-old Iris (Sofia Karemyr) has been placed in a group home by her mother. Mentally unstable, she teams up with her friend Sonja (Josefin Asplund), intent on living it up without a care in the world. Meanwhile, high society madam Dagmar Glans (portrayed brilliantly by Pernilla August) profiteers off a stable of young and desperate ladies. As Iris and Sonja come to the attention of Dagmar, the story becomes deeper and darker.
Marcimain was second unit director on the recent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, and, as Dagmar and her girls become caught up in a police investigation reaching all the way to the top of the Swedish Government, the intrigue and high stakes of that film are evident once more here. You never quite know which way the story will turn, but Call Girl does not disappoint.
