Jan 5, 2010

Rotmanad AKA Dog Days, AKA What Are You Doing After The Orgy?

Learn some Swedish before you watch it.

Year: 1970
Duration: 01:40:22
Directed by: Jan Halldoff
Actors: Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Ulla Sjöblom, Christina Lindberg
Language: Swedish. Neither dubbed, nor subtitled.
Country: Sweden
Also known as: Rötmånad (original title) | What Are You Doing After the Orgy? (UK)

Assar lives in a small port with his 17-year old daughter Anna-Bella Gustafsson (played by a 20 years old Christina Lindberg). His wife, that had been gone for quite some time returns unexpectedly and Assar can't resist her charms. But after a while she starts up a brothel using photos of the young girl as bait for costumers. But the girl is not really working there until Assar realizes he can make more money if his wife is no longer there(!)

Twisted Bitch.
Naive Anna Bella.
I saw this in Swedish (with no subtitles), so I'm a little unsure of the plot, but here goes: Christina Lindberg takes her clothes off a lot.

Seriously though, this movie seems to about a VERY dysfunction Swedish family living on an idyllic lake. The once thought to be dead not-particularly-attractive mother is a prostitute who services the men who show up in boats or hydroplanes out in the family boathouse. The oafish father meanwhile serves drinks to his wife's "guests". The wife seems to be trying to introduce the teenage daughter (Lindberg) to the family business by letting her clients photograph her naked or leer at her as she sunbathes topless. Then the daughter falls in love with a boy her age, and her mother seeing her plans evidently threatened, plots to get rid of the guy. This in turn leads the daughter to take revenge, and the long-suffering husband meanwhile has his own sinister plans. There are some ironic twists, and by the end of the film the English title "Dog Days" will make perfect sense as the family's dog becomes the most significant remaining character.

Perfect Boobs.
Hey! wathcha lookin' at?
I don't think this movie is supposed to be a comedy, but it's hard to tell. It's a little serious for an exploitation film, but also a little exploitative for a serious film. It was one of Christina Lindberg's first films. She was 20 here, but in loose-fitting clothes is believable as a slightly younger character. Without clothes though she looks like a burlesque-era stripper, but that was really her whole appeal--part innocent Swedish schoolgirl, part Gypsy Rose Lee. I've seen almost all of Lindberg's films, and this is pretty much like all the rest--not very good perhaps, a little sleazy, but kind of interesting nevertheless.  

From the internet I gather, the film's reached the cult status in Sweden and that there is a plan for releasing it on DVD but only there, so Region 2 and again no dubbing or subtitles. Finding a good quality digital copy can be a serious pain in the ass. Nevertheless, this blog does not support piracy (Google inspectors are always around) But if you are a connoisseur of these kind of movies, I'm pretty sure you know where to look for already.

Yes daddy, whatever you say.
Smile for the camera!
Overall, Dog Days is a dark comedy depicting the prostitution business a family has. Actually, the only prostitute is Anna Bella's mother who's a bit older and doesn't really look that appealing anymore and that's why  they used their daughter's beauty to scam clients leading them to believe they will get a piece of her while they're actually going to get the old lady instead. This is by no means a sexploitation feast. Nudity is at a very low level, and Lindberg is actually nude in only a couple of scenes. If you want to see more nudity, you can check other films in her filmography. 

The only film let down is that to this date, no subtitles have surfaced in the internet, making it really hard to fully understand what's going on in between the many talks the film has. However, the key scenes are graphic enough for us to understand that the Gustafsson family is running out of money and in a desperate move they decide to actually start prostituting their daughter. But before doing so, they have to get rid of her boyfriend. 

A pity no Movie company has taken an interest in releasing this film properly outside Sweden. Until then, all we are left with is the European recent release or bootleg copies from the internet.

Can't touch this.
Here's a Swedish fan made movie trailer: