Wide Open (1974)

Wide Open (1974). 1h 38m | Unrated

“This is a very odd Swedish exploitation movie with an almost completely random plot, so much so that itu0026#39;s not even clear who the main character is supposed to be. It starts out with a young taxi driver who runs into his drunken father at a horse race. They go back to the younger manu0026#39;s apartment where his girlfriend is wandering around butt-naked, and the father attacks her. Later the taxi driver and the girlfriend go to a swank party, and while he makes it with an attractive blonde in a back room, his girlfriend ends up running into her younger, rather homely but free-spirited sister who is the star of a Warholesque u0026quot;artu0026quot; film showing at the party. After a bizarre family reunion/birthday party, the older sister/girlfriend takes off for Copenhagen, while the younger sister pursues a nude modelling career with her much more attractive friend (Christina Lindberg). She also tries to seduce her sisteru0026#39;s philandering boyfriend (the taxi driver), but he is much more interested in the Lindberg character, doing her on her living room couch while her own oblivious (or apathetic) boyfriend is passed out a few feet away. The focus then shifts to the Lindberg character who it turns out is being abused by her boyfriend (he screws her in a stable and makes her do housework in the nude for some reason). Thereu0026#39;s also a u0026quot;McGuffinu0026quot; involving a shipment of drugs hidden in a fur coat which eventually results somehow in all three of the leading actresses doing a bottomless can-can dance. . .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYou get the idea that this film is all over the place. It does strangely keep your interest though because you never have ANY IDEA whatu0026#39;s going to happen next (all the sex and nudity helps a lot too, of course). It also seems to be some kind of strange male fantasy where completely unattractive, unsuccessful, and unambitious guys get to sexually use and abuse gorgeous women, and they love them for it. Actually this might be halfway plausible with the one sister, who is pretty homely, but the other sister, the blonde at the party,and Christine frickinu0026#39; Lindberg are stunning beauties who could obviously do A LOT better. Still who knows what Sweden was like during the 1970u0026#39;s sexual revolution–maybe this film is entirely accurate.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie seems at times to be wanting to make some serious comment about the era, but itu0026#39;s lost in the barely competent film-making, the bad English dubbing, and the need to constantly undress the female cast. The whole exercise is a little depressing actually. The problem is that the seriousness takes away from the sex somewhat, while all the sex definitely takes away from the seriousness. Like a lot of movies Lindberg appeared in during this time (and, god knows, Iu0026#39;ve seen way too many of them) this seems to be inspired by the seminal but overrated Swedish classic u0026quot;I Am Curious Yellowu0026quot;. Itu0026#39;s not any better or worse than that one really, but it ultimately only has Christina Lindberg to recommend it (but then that might just be enough).”