Dirty Weekend [DVD] [1993]

"Dirty Weekend" isn't a movie about a dirty weekend, although the plot is set in Brighton, England.

Rather, it's a feminist version of "Death Wish", even directed by the same guy, Michael Winner. I've never seen "Death Wish", probably because the movie is too controversial to show on TV, and I'm too lazy to rent or buy it, but I've seen "Dirty Weekend" once. It was on a Swedish channel, very late at night!

The movie is based on a novel by Helen Zahavi (also available from Amazon) but since I never read it, I'm not sure how close Winner followed it.

In the beginning, you get the impression that "Dirty Weekend" is a tragic drama about a lonely, weak and pathetic woman followed by a stalker, who gets progressively more and more threatening. It is not. The woman, Bella, gets to know a mysterious Iranian cult leader, a certain Nimrod, who reams her out and tells her that she must resist. Nimrod gives her a parting gift: a knife. (In the Bible, Nimrod is one of the bad guys. Is Nimrod a symbol of the Devil?)

Bella then decides to do as Nimrod told her. She sneaks into the stalker's flat at night, and quite simply bashes him to death with a clawhammer! The rest of the movie is a veritable killing spree, as Bella hunts down and kills an assortment of the local male chauvinist pigs (usually rapists). Nimrod's knife also comes in handy, as the heroine disposes of a male serial killer in the closing scenes. The story ends with Bella moving from Brighton to London, apparently intent on continuing a life of vigilantism.

I can't say this is the best movie around. I suspect Charles Bronson was better in "Death Wish". Still, one wonders why a film about a female vigilante has almost no audience (and no customer reviews!), while male action heroes are all over the place?

As a feminist protest, I give it five stars. Watch out, sexists: the next woman you molest might be Bella. And I might be...Nimrod.

;-)

Michael Winner is back - this time without Charles Bronson, who went on filming DEATH WISH V. This time Winner tells the story from a woman's point of view - and does a good job at it! Descent directing and a quite good story - based on Helen Zahavi's novel of the same title.
The psychological aspect of this movie is a lot better than in most of its kind - Lia Williams is convincing as Bella by portraying her transformation from victim to vigilante. There is some cynical dark humor in this as well - a wink to that end scene of Death Wish 1?
Quite graphic in the depiction of sex and violence, but then again, aren't they all? A few scenes do seem a bit staged (Gun store scene) or remind of other movies (Bella taking out 3 guys in an alley, Bronson-style), but it didn't really bother me.
Overall not as excellent as Death Wish 1 and 2 or Ms. 45 but coming quite close.

It is easy to see why this 1983 production from Michael Winner was banned from the UK for 2 years. Apart from the sex and violence, it is a very poorly made film that managed to offend me on every level.

It tells the story of Bella, mousy secretary who moves to Brighton and after a series of improbable events goes off on a killing spree to rid the world of objectionable men. Given the nature of the material and the director it is hard not to describe this as a feminist Death Wish film.

The film is a masterclass in bad film making from Winner. Lazy, even by his low standards. He uses clumsy narration to frame the film, drags the pace right down so that there are long stretches of nothing much happening, interspersed with brief scenes of would be gratuity that, in actual fact, lose any power to shock due to wooden performances. Attempts at a moral argument about vigilantism and feminism fall totally flat, and drag the film even further down. For some reason he chooses to have Bella stare at things for long periods of time, probably supposed be showing menace, deep thought or inner turmoil, but it just looks like boredom on the part of Lia Williams. Winner also, as is often the case, totally fails to make the best of some great actors; or even worse totally miscasts them. Ian Richardson, consummate professional that he was, manages to get through his part as an Indian mystic (no, I am not making this up) without laughing. Rufus Sewell and Sean Pertwee are not allowed to bring the menace to their roles that they could have done so easily, and David McCallum, bless him, does his best but cannot do anything with a badly written part.

Fortunately the analogy with Death Wish stops quite early on, and a series of endless and continually worse sequels did not materialise. Thank heaven for small mercies.

What should have been entertaining and thought provoking is reduced to dull and lifeless. The film is an offence to the intelligence and it's ban should continue on that basis alone. Dire, avoid, there is no good reason for looking this one up. 1 star.