Flash Light (1970)

Flash Light: Directed by José Ramón Larraz. With Karl Lanchbury, Vivian Neves, Pia Andersson, Johanna Hegger. A rich older woman living in a country house brings home a new model to be photographed by a young enigmatic photographer who lives with her. The unsuspecting girl becomes entangled in a web of sex, abuse and death.

“I have always enjoyed the idiosyncratic films of Jose Ramon Larraz but have never before seen this, his first of a run of films made in England, although this one seems to have had Danish connections. In common with the directoru0026#39;s others this is well shot with attractive settings, well lit and with very effective editing and musical score. The thing is, with everything indicating a well put together and artistic enterprise, there is much sex and a certain awkwardness, a certain embarrassment. Usually, as here that slightly off putting element gradually works for the film, balancing the artiness with an almost blunt form of realism. In Whirlpool a strange young man (Karl Lanchbury) and his aunt (Pia Andersson) have a passion for leading young ladies astray and in particularly into a bout of three in a bed. There are complications that include a flute player of pension age, a drug dealer with a yen for rape and the aforementioned aunt who has a an for young girls. Throughout all this a young beauty played by the young beauty Viven Neves shines brightly and seems up for anything. She gets a little more than she bargained for but then doesnu0026#39;t this always seem to happen in a Larraz film? Kim Newman refers to his films as u0026#39;glumu0026#39;, a very English expression for the work of a fine Spanish director who just didnu0026#39;t seem to want to make films the way others did.”