Jun 19, 2024

Whirlpool (1970)


A UK thriller about a model who becomes affiliated with a rich woman and her son, leading to some dark twists and turns. The first picture for Spanish director José Ramón Larraz.





































CHARACTERS
RATING: ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 7/10

REVIEW: This film has been largely forgotten, and I don't think Whirlpool made much of a splash at it's theatrical release. However, it's so dark and dirty, well beyond British cinema limits in '70, that it deserves some credit for pushing the envelope. Vivian Neves is not a good actress, which I guess explains why she never really was able to leverage this into more roles, other than a single episode of The Persuaders. But she is absolutely gorgeous in this film, and totally fearless when it comes to nudity.

Perhaps it's just a little too dark and nihilistic to garner much interest and warrant repeat viewing... and despite Neves' incredible legs, a film with this much time spent in the living room chatting and drinking, is going to inspire a fair share of yawns. I can't stress enough how much of this film's run time is spent in the living room. It's easily half the film! But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

A word about Vivian Neves who has the distinction of being the first naked woman to appear in "The Times" (London). It was for an advertisement for Fisons chemicals pictured above. Vivian Neves wasn't much of an actress. This is really her only film credit aside from a small role as nun in The Hound of Baskervilles eight years later. Her main occupation was as a model - primarily for advertisements. She also appeared on a ton of magazine covers and even album covers. Remember the Hot Hits and Top of the Pops records? Neves image landed on UK and other European magazines. I actually own the Neue Revue pictured above - which sports a sexy cover, but contains surprisingly little eye candy. It's basically a family friendly magazine, with just a couple B&W nude pictures inside.

SYNOPSIS

Tulia (Vivian Neves), a swingin' UK model, is introduced to the wealthy Sara (Pia Andersson). Sara convinces Tulia to come to her estate out in the country. She introduces her to Theo (Karl Lanchbury), her nephew and wannabe photographer. The three of them enjoy drinks, and Theo hovers around creepily snapping pictures. As the day wears on, Sara keeps loading Tulia up with more and more booze. Booze leads to marijuana.Things really loosen up, and the gang go for a round of strip poker. Alcohol, drugs and strip poker... now she's about to have sex with weird Theo. But the lad can't get it up. The next day, Theo is confronted by a police officer regarding a missing woman named Rhonda. Theo tells Tulia not to go into a forbidden room - which, of course, she does, and finds it full of grotesqueries.

Tulia goes to a pub with Theo and his friend Tom (Andrew Grant). On the drive back, Tom starts violently grabbing her breasts from the backseat. Theo pulls the car off into the woods. Tulia tries to escape, but Tom catches up with her and rips her clothes off. Theo snaps pictures of the assault. Theo and Tom drive off, with Tulia screaming for them to not leave her, running naked to catch up. They eventually stop, tell her it's okay, and drive her back to the estate. Sara explains to Tulia that this was just a creative way for Theo to take photographs of her. Sara agrees (although a bit drunk and drugged) to have sex with Sara, while Theo takes pictures. Theo is invited to make it a threesome. Disturbingly, Theo gravitates to his aunt, basically ignoring Tulia.

Tulia wakes up and finds the keys to Theo's darkroom within Sara's clothes. She gets dressed and sneaks out. There, she Tulia finds Theo's photographs depicting the brutal rape and murder of Rhonda. In a flashback, we see Rhonda taken to the woods by Theo and Tom. The boys allow a hobo to have sex with Rhonda. Rhonda freaks out, and Tom, in an effort to keep her quiet, kills her. The boys carry her nude body through the woods. Rhonda is put in a small boat and disposed of in the lake. Theo catches Tulia, but she splashes the photograph development solution in his face and runs off. Theo catches up with her and stabs her to death by the lake. The film ends here, with Tulia getting stabbed. Theo just watches her die. THE END

4 comments:

  1. Saw this in '70 with some friends at a drive-in just after my 16th birthday! So definitely not forgotten by me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice. A pretty dark movie for a birthday flick, but I'm sure your group enjoyed Vivian Neves nonetheless. Cheers.

      Delete
  2. How come Pia Anderssen never did anything before or after this movie?...she was a strikingly beautiful woman.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is it possible she worked under another name?

    ReplyDelete