''Call Girl'' is a 2012

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The st ...

film directed by

Mikael Marcimain Mikael Marcimain (born 17 March 1970) is a Swedish film and television director. Marcimain has primarily directed advertisements and television dramas, for which he has received several awards. Notable in his filmography are the serials ''Laserma ...

and written by Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten. It stars

Sofia Karemyr Emmy Sofia Oline Karemyr (born 1 February 1994) is a Swedish actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Call Girl'' and '' Becoming Astrid'', and the Viaplay series '' Älska mig'' and '' Partisan''. Early and personal life Karemyr ...

Simon J. Berger Simon Jönsson Berger, known as Simon J. Berger (born 1June 1979) is a Swedish actor. He is the son of musician Bengt Berger and artist Gittan Jönsson.

and

Josefin Asplund Maria Josefin Asplund (born 15 October 1991) is a Swedish actress. She is known to international audiences for her roles as Astrid on the History Channel series ''Vikings'' and Pernilla Blomkvist in ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (2011). She ...

. The story is a fictionalised version of events based on the so-called ' political scandal of 1970s Sweden which linked several prominent politicians to a prostitution ring that included underage girls.

Plot

Set against the backdrop of the 1976 election, the story is centered on delinquent teenager Iris, who is sent to live in a juvenile home. She meets Sonja there and the two regularly slip away for adventures in the city. Together they are recruited to the prostitution ring operated by Dagmar Glans, a madam well known to the authorities. Dagmar's clients are mostly rich and powerful men, including senior politicians of the day. She becomes the subject of a police investigation led by a young vice officer, John Sandberg. Sandberg soon discovers Glans has powerful clients but also finds his investigation hampered by his superiors and his life threatened by sinister figures. Police break up the prostitution ring but the powerful clients avoid being named in the scandal and Dagmar's trial concludes with her receiving a suspended sentence before Iris can testify about being an underage prostitute. In the aftermath of the trial, Sandberg is killed in a hit and run incident and his report into the affair is classified by the newly elected government. The film ends with Iris running away from the juvenile home, her ultimate fate ambiguous.

Cast

Reception

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an 80% rank based on 15 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 7.1/10.

Accolades

It received the FIPRESCI Discovery prize at the

2012 Toronto International Film Festival The 37th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 6 and September 16, 2012. TIFF announced the films that were accepted on August 21, 2012. On its 37th edition the TIFF included a 2 ...

. The film opened the Stockholm International Film Festival in November 2012. It went on to win the Silver Audience Award, which is voted for by the audience during the festival. It was later nominated in 11 categories at the

48th Guldbagge Awards The 48th Guldbagge Awards ceremony, presented by the Swedish Film Institute, honored the best Swedish films of 2012 and took place January 21, 2013, at Cirkus in Stockholm. During the ceremony, the jury presented Guldbagge Awards (commonly re ...

, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and won in four.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1977739 2012 thriller films 2010s political thriller films Drama films based on actual events Films about child prostitution Films directed by Mikael Marcimain Films set in 1976 Films set in Stockholm Films shot in Gothenburg Films shot in Stockholm Finnish thriller films Irish thriller films Norwegian thriller films Prostitution in Sweden Sexploitation films Swedish thriller films Thriller films based on actual events 2010s Swedish films