Whore (1991)

Whore, made by Ken Russell in 1991, is an odd little film. Much of the time star Theresa Russell (as Liz, the whore of the title) addresses the camera directly, giving it a slightly stagey feel (it was in fact adapted from a play). In some ways it’s a very uncompromising and very confronting look at the realities of prostitution, but it combines this with comedy, often rather black comedy. It takes us through one day in the life of a prostitute in a major US city, during which she has major problems with her pimp, tells us about her past and her child, and we see her with a variety of tricks. The movie spells out quite plainly that a good deal of the unpleasantness of the prostitute’s life would be eliminated if prostitution were legalised, a sensible course of action that seems unlikely to be taken in most places any time soon.

Whore was too odd and unconventional to have any chance of box office success and most people seem to dislike it. I thought the strange mix of ingredients worked. The comedy makes the bleakness of Liz’s life bearable, and prevents her from seeming too much of a victim. Theresa Russell’s performance is, like the movie itself, very stylised but I thought it was excellent. I read somewhere that it was Ken Russell’s answer to Pretty Woman. It has a message but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it. It doesn’t glamorise the prostitute, nor does it demonise her. Amid the sordidness of life on the street it’s a very funny film. I liked it.