PRINCESS: a review from IFFR 2007

The first time I noticed Princess was when ScreenAnarchy had the absolutely gorgeous movie poster on the homepage. Yes, the one on the left. Checking to see what the movie was about I was very surprised to learn it was… a European animation effort, with adult content?!!

Todd's review only made me more anxious to see it and now, courtesy of the Rotterdam International Film Festival, I finally have!

Princess might be Anders Morgenthaler’s first feature length movie, but he has had several years of experience with directing and producing animation and live action for Danish television. This shows, as Princess is a remarkably confident mixture of both. And although the movie itself is quite short (Toronto and Rotterdam show 80 minutes, although IMDB claims a 12 minute longer version exists) it is effective and keeps bugging me to this very moment.

The story is typical sensationalist pulp fiction: August, a seemingly gentle ex-priest turns into Sin City’s Marv when he finds out his 5-year-old niece has been abused as a side-effect of the porn industry her mother was involved in. The execution is very different though, with the emphasis being on the damaged minds of the participants, “hero” included.

When the movie starts you see August (still wearing the collar) stumbling into a porn studio, where he witnesses an orgy being filmed with the main protagonist being a highly pregnant woman. He is as shocked as we are but silently leaves the building, trembling. This passive attitude changes when he becomes the guardian of his late sister’s niece Mia. Mia’s mother was the successful pornstar “Princess” before she died, and her daughter shows very unsettling behavior because of her exposure to an industry which attracts all sorts of creeps. The company “Princess” worked for is still milking her persona for loads of money, often in the most distasteful ways (just wait till you see the tomb they built for her). August asks them to stop doing this, and when he is not being taken seriously he becomes rather more adamant. And, unfortunately for the Danish porn industry, he also turns out to be adept at self-defense and guerilla warfare…

What this movie is most famous for (apart from content) is the use of different techniques: all present-day material in the story is shown as animation, while the flashbacks are presented as taped home-videos. This might seem jarring but, inexplicably, works to great effect and is used as a move-the-story device.
Most of the animation is of very good quality. Even though the designs are abstract and cartoonish (the little girl resembles Boo from Monster’s Inc, but with an even bigger head) the actual animations are very realistic. Little things like the way August picks up and holds his niece whenever they cuddle are so well done that it seems filmed rather than drawn. This makes the violence seem more real as well, but most of the shocks come from Mia’s behavior as a sexually abused child. Cartoonish or not, her interaction with other children is nothing short of chilling. This helps sell the improbable stuff like August’s ninja actions. Keeping tempo in the film, his bursts of rage are impeccably timed and coincide with flashes of guilt. Whenever you as the viewer think “no, this is too much” August turns Hulk and starts smashing things. This makes for strangely satisfying viewing as you keep feeling concerned for August no matter how psycho he gets.

But Morgenthaler is not out to just entertain us and cleverly shows exactly how much damage August causes with his outbursts, also to people who can arguably be labeled as “innocents”. No matter how much we feel for August, his actions do not exonerate him from the mistakes he made in the past or from the flaws he still has.

All this makes for a deeply disturbing film. The child abuse is thankfully more suggested than shown, but ever since I turned father myself things like these just cut a lot deeper. In the past I would see this and think “yeah man, child abuse is evil”, but now I sit in the cinema white-knuckled and sweating, wanting to kill something. Which makes for a harrowing experience.
The sex never needs to be shown hardcore and Morgenthaler wisely doesn’t, a decision I applaud. What IS shown is definitely enough to make the film as gross as it is.

All in all I am very impressed with the command and restraint Anders Morgenthaler shows with his movie. An outrageous story is shown in an interesting way and focuses both on the sensational AND the emotional aspects. He could so easily have derailed this but kept everything together in a tight little film which, short as it is, never feels rushed.

Highly recommended, except for the squeamish.

Trailer and other stuff to be found here: