Review of Rötmånad

Rötmånad (1970)
7/10
Vivid memories
9 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Fame at last! The first to review a film!

Before I do so, I must set it in context. You will note that this film dates back to 1970, which marks the one and only time I saw it, as part of a late night double bill at a small provincial British cinema (under the title What Are You Doing After The Orgy). I was 18, and had grown up in a society which, at that point, was very repressed over sexual matters. This was long before the internet, remember, and UK censors had only recently decided that the sight of pubic hair wouldn't necessarily turn us all into depraved rapists overnight. So, as an impressionable and somewhat sheltered 18 year old on the lookout for some all-too-rare mucky stuff, I turned out for this late night showing.

What I got was a film which, to my way of thinking, did not fit the title under which it was offered. Nor did it particularly fit the genre "comedy" as mentioned above. Perhaps the Swedes found it funny, but I'm pretty sure I didn't, especially given the nature of the ending. I think I didn't find the whole notion of Mum returning and recruiting her teenage daughter into prostitution that comical, either.

I did enjoy the movie, though. The story, which is downright weird, was gripping. And Christina Lindberg as the daughter was so powerfully erotic that the two nude scenes (and there were only two! unless the UK censors had snipped others) have stayed with me throughout the 37 years since then.

Please understand that any comments based on a single viewing 37 years ago, when my native society - and I! - were very different are inevitably going to be somewhat unreliable. But I think I might try to track this film down on DVD nonetheless, so that I can see whether watching it again will be able to conjure up that naive young man from the mists of my personal history.
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