Whore

Released in a version cut by 7 minutes, one part downbeat docudrama and two parts Russell rant, this adaptation of David Hines' play Bondage lacks the visual imagination and cutting edge of the director's earlier Crimes of Passion. He seems constrained by the seedy naturalism as low-rent hooker Liz (Theresa Russell) walks the streets, keeping one eye out for the vicious pimp she fled earlier. Delivering most of her lines direct to camera, the foul-mouthed Liz lectures the audience on the routine abuse and humiliations she suffers in her line of work. Bullied, beaten and branded by her sadistic pimp (Mouton), Liz has a sneaking affection for some of her older clients, but knows that most of them 'don't want sex, they want revenge'. Flashbacks to a broken marriage and a son taken into care bespeak an equally unhappy past, but there are occasional, fleeting moments of human tenderness. What is most depressing, given the hectoring tone of Liz's monologues, is the way the film comes alive when her hateful pimp usurps the voice-over to brag about his entrepreneurial skills.