Call Girl

A confident drama about a real-life 1976 political scandal, this Swedish film is expertly tells the story from three fascinating angles. The government officials are slippery and the cops are tenacious, but it's the intensely personal story of a young girl caught up in a prostitution ring that catches our emotions.

Iris (Karemyr) is only 14, but her life is already off the rails. Sent to a group home, she escapes with her pal Sonja (Asplund) looking for fun. Along the way, they're recruited by charismatic brothel madam Dagmar (August) to entertain her clients, which include high-powered politicians. Meanwhile, the government is preparing for a general election and trying to keep all of this illicit sex out of the newspapers. But a politician (Dencik) and an undercover cop (Berger) are collecting the evidence they need to crack the case. And if it hits the press, there might not be a point in holding an election at all.

The filmmakers layer the story with irony, as the Swedish government is working to build the most open and fair society on earth, drafting laws that will give women fully equal rights. But in their spare time, these same men are frequenting under-age prostitutes who aren't there by choice. Baumgarten's script digs deep to set up complex characters whose motivations and reactions might not always be clear but are vivid and recognisably real. And the cast members play the roles with such natural honesty that we can't help but sympathise with them. Watching the more intimate scenes makes us squirm in our seats.

The most riveting character in the film is Dagmar, and the brilliant August (who played Anakin's mum in The Phantom Menace) makes her a force of nature, gliding and pouncing through each situation, and never breaking a sweat even when the police move in. Director Marcimain gives the film plenty of visual style, capturing the period impeccably. This makes the movie feel like a companion piece to another 1970s spy thriller, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), which Marcimain worked on and which was also shot by ace cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Both films touch on political corruption, and the strength of this one is in the way it uses a personal story to show how power so often goes hand-in-hand with sex.