Whore

Plot synopsis:
Liz (Russell) is a Los Angeles prostitute the audience first sees attempting to get a customer on a busy downtown street near a tunnel. She addresses the audience directly on her life and problems throughout the film. When a van stops by, she gives it the brush off, recalling the last time she serviced a man in a van: it turned out there were several other men in the van, who gang-raped her and left her for dead. A passer-by (Jack Nance) helps her to the hospital, and even pays her bill there. She sends him a thank you note.
Liz isn't merely attempting to get a customer, however: she is attempting to escape her pimp, Blake (Benjamin Mouton). Blake is a well-dressed, businesslike and extremely controlling man who catches up with her at a convenience store. He demands money, and Liz has no choice but to agree though she gives him the finger as he leaves.
As Liz stops off at a strip club for a drink, she explains how she ended up as she did: she was a small town girl, who married a violent drunk named Charlie (Frank Smith). Though they have a child together, she can no longer take it and leaves him, taking her son with her, as he's sleeping it off. She takes a job on the graveyard shift at a diner, and when a customer offers her more money to have sex with him, she decides, given her rather low pay, to take it. She does this independently for a time until she meets Blake, who takes her to LA. Though Blake does do some things for her (including getting her tattooed), he is ultimately as cruel as her husband, so she decides to escape from him.
A local homeless person/street performer named Rasta (Antonio Fargas) decides to treat Liz to a movie. Though Rasta is a bit scary (his act involves walking on broken glass), Liz agrees. At this point the scenes of Liz and Rasta at the movie are intercut with Blake explaining his life to the audience, giving the impression that Liz and Rasta are watching Blake's soliloquy.
After the movie, Liz talks to the audience about her son, whom she clearly loves, though he's now in foster care. She finally gets a customer and services him. He has a heart attack, and Liz panics, trying to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, without success. Blake happens along then. He takes Liz's money and tries to rob the dead customer. When Liz tries to stop him, Blake tries to strangle Liz and threatens her son. Rasta comes to the rescue, killing Blake. A grateful Liz gives her thanks and walks away.

Tags: violence

Review:
The Weird and Wild World of Ken Russell: An interesting retort to "Pretty Woman"..
Whore (1991) was Ken Russell's take upon the life of a prostitute.
Theresa Russell is excellent as the "whore" who gives us an insider's view of the world of low-class prostitution.
Whilst movies like "Pretty Woman" show us the bright side of prostitution, "Whore" shows us it's true dark self.I found this movie to be very interesting.
Personally, I love everything about it, from Teresa Russell's sarcastic, bombastic, career-wrecking performance to the simple joy of seeing Antonio Fargas on screen again, "Whore" is a great, intelligent film worth repeated viewings.
The real tragedy is that this will be Ken Russell's last great film.
Ken Russell's "Whore" begins with an amusing shot of cars driving through a tunnel (R-rated Freudianism?) coupled with a Jamaican rap on the soundtrack about doing the "boom boom" with girls.
Russell, who directed the film and co-adapted the screenplay from David Hines' play, is highly adept at quirky bits of business--blending hammy, outré comedy with blunt-force dramatics--but with "Whore", his mix of in-your-face, sexually-comedic bits and pieces are not always compatible bedmates next to the violence or the introspective moments.
Theresa Russell plays Liz, a streetwise hooker full of bravado; often addressing the camera directly, Theresa speaks with an odd swagger in her voice (as if she's channeling someone standing beside her).
Striking amazing poses--like Lolita all grown up--Theresa Russell has some choice moments (usually when she's not speaking, as with a silent come-on to a guy who turns out to be gay), but she is not a vulgar, cartoony actress and is too refined to be slutty.
There are well-wrought sequences (such as when Russell's friendship with a possible lesbian is interrupted by a vicious pimp, an incredible moment done without principle dialogue), but the film isn't very sexy.
Those looking for a raucous good time will be disappointed (can you imagine how that inelegant title looked on the movie theater marquees?), and those hoping for a serious take on the prostitution business probably won't stick around past the first hour.
The prostitute Liz (Theresa Russell) works on the streets of Los Angeles.
The hot Theresa Russell is a perfect choice for the role of Liz, talking to the camera to explain her life and feelings and analyzing the type of men that is client of a whore.
The comments on this film are pretty amusing, I just hope Mr. Russell has seen a few of them, as it would probably tickle him to-no-end.
Ask the King County sheriff's Department and the Seattle Police, they allowed the Green River killer to run-riot for 20+ years.I consider this a pretty pure film for Ken Russell, and a pretty compassionate statement FOR the victims of prostitution.
It looks pretty slick cinematography-wise, and the acting by Theresa Russell (no-relation to the writer/director) is astonishing.
She's also incredibly powerful in projecting her sexuality as an actor, which is pretty rare.Only Kathleen Turner stands as her equal.So, if you enjoyed "Crimes of Passion" nearly as much as I did (a masterpiece), this will be a wonderful companion-film for you, dear viewers.
The only problem I basically had with this film, was that Ms. Russell's character was much too glamorous to be a *street whore*.
That was the most un-authentic part of this film, noticing how perfect she looked.From viewing documentaries depicting real life prostitutes (HBO's series about hookers in the Bronx, those women were rough....missing teeth, barely literate etc) and other movies depicting the horrors of prostitution, we all know they usually don't look as good as Ms. Russell does in this film....unless they are call girls.
Call girls aren't as abused as street hookers, they usually have a decent and comfortable place to be with their clients.Most street whores have drug problems, even if they don't, that rough 'street life' certainly takes a toll on ones looks.
It's not for everyone but I found it to be a good character study with humor, sex, and all the other elements of fun sleaze that make a Ken Russell film so much raunchy fun.
Russell (Theresa, that is), directs monologues at the camera in between interaction with various figures in her life.
A prostitute named Liz (Theresa Russell) relates her life and times to the viewer.
Rasta (Antonio Fargas) pops up from time to time to inexplicably help her.This was made in response to "Pretty Woman" (which actually made prostitution look glamorous).
Director Ken Russell had trouble getting funding for this--no actress would take the role and the title alone scared away investors.
Mouton is also good as her slimy pimp and it's always good to see Fargas in anything (although his character makes no sense).The screenplay is great--it doesn't shy away from any of the realities of prostitution and is quite graphic.
Also there are a few cute references to earlier Russell films here--one movie theatre is playing "Lair of the White Worm" and another is playing a porno film starring China Blue (the character Kathleen Turner played in his "Crimes of Passion").I saw this originally in 1991 in a theatre in it's NC-17 version.
WHORE (Ken Russell, 1991) **1/2.
Although he continued to work profusely in the medium which gave him his start, this was the last proper theatrical film for Ken Russell until 2002's semi-amateurish THE FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER (which, perhaps unsurprisingly, did become his feature-length swan song for the silver screen); given its theatrical origins as a British play called "Bondage" – written by a former taxi driver and basing it on stories he was told by his own streetwalking customers!
– it is not as visually stylized as the movies the director is most renowned – or vilified – for but he still opens it out somewhat by shooting it on location in Los Angeles Appropriately enough, it stars American actress Theresa Russell (no relation to the director) who, at the time of shooting, was married to Ken's chief rival for the title of the most visionary British film-maker of his era, Nicolas Roeg who, like Ken, had a penchant for turning pop idols into tentative and temporary film stars!The seedy world of pimps, prostitutes and "tricks" is right up Ken's alley and one he had already visited more effectively 7 years previously in one of his most notorious films, CRIMES OF PASSION; tellingly, this more realistic treatment went by almost unnoticed.
Among the episodes in her past life that are depicted is a marriage to a boozing hunk (hilariously, he comes home one day, when she is almost at the end of her pregnancy and, despite her having diligently prepared his meal, he proceeds to puke into his salad bowl!); earlier on, the first 'client' she meets is a puking tramp lying on the pavement and then a colored, perennially barefooted street-performing masochist (played by Antonio Fargas from TV's STARSKY AND HUTCH) who becomes a recurring presence throughout the filmas does an Indian bike-rider who insists Theresa foregoes the 'rubber' if she agrees to take him on as a customer (which, naturally, doom his prospects)!
After much abuse suffered from plying her trade on the streets – getting gangbanged in a van and thanklessly dumped on the pavement, after which she is cared for by a kindly Jack Nance – she is 'tricked' {sic} (through the staging of a rescue from a would-be attempted rape inside a car) into employing a seemingly classy but sadistic thug as her pimp (Benjamin Mouton); he takes her out to an elegant dinner (served by an uncredited – and sarcastic – Ken Russell himself!) but, obviously, she is no 'fair lady' and proceeds to make an ass of him in front of the other diners.
Like Kathleen Turner's character in CRIMES OF PASSION before her (incidentally, as an in-joke, a porn movie on the marquee is called "China Blue" – which had actually been the title under which that film was released in Italy!), "Liz" is also into servicing old men: one is a regular inside an old people's home – with a bunch of nearby resting residents as gleeful 'witnesses'; the other dies on the 'job' – at which point the pimp reappears...but so does Fargas who swiftly saves the day by slitting the latter's throat!For the record, the most notable films to revolve exclusively around the milieu of prostitutes are most of Kenji Mizoguchi's films featuring downtrodden geishas, Federico Fellini's NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957), Jean-Luc Godard's VIVRE SA VIE (1962) and Luis Bunuel's BELLE DE JOUR (1967); this is not to say that WHORE in any way ever approaches their level of artistry but, one thing it certainly has that they do not is an amusingly crude and sexist Ska theme tune called "Doing The Bang" sung over the opening and closing credits by an anonymous band called Fascinating Force!
"Whore" is a fantastic movie by Ken Russell (dir.
The film is shot in a pseudo-documentary style, in which we find ourselves taking on the perspective of a film crew that is following around a prostitute on the lamb (Theresa Russell).
It shows how life as a whore can be tough and that you have to be careful about who you choose as your friends in "the oldest profession on earth." This is another winner by Ken Russell that cant be missed by any of his fans.
The device of having Theresa Russell talking directly to the camera (and, consequently, to us) was perhaps intended to give a documentary feel to the whole production, but it has the opposite effect: it never lets you forget that "it's only a movie".
Although I disliked this movie and thought parts of it could have been done better  it sure is alot more realistic then Pretty Woman although most people don't even know of its existance..
This is an excellent little film from the weirdo English director Ken  Russell.
I read in several articles and interviews that "Whore" was primarily intended as a harsh and confronting response to the Julia Roberts comedy "Pretty Woman"; which depicts prostitution as a carefree and happy happy joy joy profession.
Of course everybody already knows that the job of a prostitute includes more than just sleeping with Richard Gere, but Russell nonetheless insisted on dedicating a full movie based on this reality lesson.
Theresa Russell is excellent as Liz and, since she speaks most of her monologues straight into a camera, the viewer becomes irreversibly involved in her daily routines of abuse, humiliation, danger, fear, indescribably odd fetishes and general bullying.
Whilst on the constant lookout for her relentless pimp, Liz lectures about what she does and doesn't tolerate from customers, tells lovely anecdotes about her wackiest clients (like an elderly man who only gets off when she hits him with his own cane!) and openly mentions the rookie mistakes that gradually turned her into the nihilistic and cynic woman she is now.
Strangely enough  but perhaps typical for Ken Russell  our director interlards the most involving moments of sincere human tenderness with revolting footage of the pimp also facing the camera and proudly talking about his spirit of enterprise and generally discriminating opinion on women.
And perhaps the biggest problem of the film might be that the subject matter actually TOO realistic to be a genuine Russell success formula.
The everyday life of a prostitute simply doesn't lend itself to a lot of creative and artsy expanding, and for Russell this is definitely a shortcoming.
This is a very good film about a Los Angeles street prostitute.
It has sex scenes and lots of dark humour.Theresa Russell gives a brilliant performance as the protagonist Liz - she often talks to the camera inbetween looking for clients.It's a lot better than Pretty Woman..
Uneducated prostitute Liz (Theresa Russell) works the L.A. streets.
Director Ken Russell considers this his anti-'Pretty Woman'.
Theresa Russell actually seems to flush away the remnants of a none too- inspiring career as the minutes tick by during this sad excuse for a film.
Theresa Russell, playing the eponymous streetwalker in a nameless American city, bares all for the camera, including her limitations as an actress.
Most of the near-plot less film is a confessional monologue, with Russell looking straight into the camera and sharing her trade secrets, but she hasn't the depth of talent to carry what amounts to a one-woman show, giving a flat performance to complement the empty, inadequate script.From all the artificial banter it shouldn't be surprising to learn that the film was adapted from a stage play, the name of which ('Bondage') is even more blunt and specific than the (original) title of the screen version.
It might have been director Ken Russell's answer to the trite platitudes of 'Pretty Woman', but all the raw squalor and explicit language is too clinical to provide any real shock value.
A more realistic take on the life of a streetwalker after the glamorising of Pretty Woman is an interesting idea.
It's risky to hang a whole film on the performance of one actor, and in this case Russell over-acts so much, almost constantly, that it comes across as a poorly executed joke.
Pretty much trash, with Ken Russell once again making a film that doesn't seem to belong to any particular genre.
However, this particular Russell film is quite watchable and has some good scenes.
Whereas in most of Russell's (early) films the actors spend 90% of their time flailing about with their arms and doing head-stands, and just generally being frantic, manic, and silly, there is none of that here - although Theresa Russell is rather animated throughout; but she acts like this to heighten the comedic effect, not to be annoying.
London cab drivers are good witnesses to street life and when one cabby (David Hines) got talking to one prostitute (late at night) he decided to write her story down and re-create it as a play called "Bondage." I never saw it myself - but I am told the reviews were mixed.The story of a sad life is told through the words and actions of one of the great "almost" actresses of her time: Theresa Russell.
Good for people that live in a Pretty Woman/Disneyland world (this movie is Ken Russell's answer to the Julia Roberts movie!), but they won't be watching it.People that make these types of films are on a sleaze holiday.
Ken Russell's films are interesting even when they fail, except perhaps for this misconceived production, made in reaction to the sugary romanticism of "Pretty Woman".
Russell wants to show the world of urban prostitution without rose-colored glasses, and so fills his film with every kind of unpleasant person and situation imaginable.But too much in this film works against its attempted realism.
Based on a play, the film employs lots of monologues spoken directly to the camera.
Whore kind of glamorizes prostitution, but with some scenes, we see the highs, but with others we see the lows.
Theresa addresses us frequently throughout the film, amongst her scenes, even telling us about a chicken spot that's not so good.
Set really over the course of a day and night, the film has her nasty pimp (Benjamin Moulton, a great underrated actor) chasing her down.
I really liked Russel's performance, who's star double which happens to be Kathleen Turner, reminded me a lot of the Turner prostitute role in Crimes Of Passion, where the tone and speed of the voice are much the same.
Whore is not what I call good, but it's interesting, where the movie really shows a funny if farcical (and I use that word heavily) side to the oldest living profession..
Russells' Last Good Film!.
Ken Russell who made major films like WOMEN IN LOVE and THE DEVILS apparently burnt out by the time he got to TOMMY (bad ghoulash!!!), except for this sly, trembling, subtle and street piece with Theresa Russell (with able support from Jack Nance briefly) that bombed critically and ..duh..financially in the early 90's.Totally under-rated and stylistic in a Bunuel sort of way, this walk down the boulevard..partly because of the casting of Ms. Russell (Nicholas Roeg's wife; still I believe), makes this almost realistic in David Lynch way without a million characters.She talks to the audience (ala ALFIE) style, bad things happen, lonely Roy Orbison-type streets, and a crescendo that is totally unexpected.
Rubbish.The movie opens with a prostitute, remarkable pretty for a street hooker, standing by the roadway with lots of 'honks,' looking for customers.
Theresa Russell portrays Liz as bluntly honest, no-nonsense about her job and what comes with the territory of being a hooker.
Blake is such a mean, cold-blooded bastard he threatens to hook Liz's son when he comes of age.The film is set up as a means for a hooker to speak candidly about what it's like being a "whore." We see Liz working those who stop off to check her out and even see one or two possible clients getting a chance at a "good time." One client gets so worked up his heart stops!
I will agree with many that Ken Russell's film is a mixed bag often drifting from comedy into tragedy, but I myself just don't see how a woman like this' story could be told any other way..
This movie revolves around a prostitute named "Liz" (Theresa Russell) who essentially recounts her life to the audience in a series of flashbacks all leading up to her present situation involving her extremely angry pimp by the name of "Blake" (Benjamin Mouton).
What this film does offer, however, is a sizable number of scenes focusing on Theresa Russell using foul language--in an annoying Bronx accent--at every turn.
So much so that, while Theresa Russell is almost always a turn-on in most of her films, she managed to look quite bad in this particular movie.