148. Dogs Don't Wear Pants (Koirat eivät käytä housuja); movie review

DOGS DON'T WEAR PANTS
Cert 18
105 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex

Plastic bags over the head, being forced to crawl on all fours like a dog and the infliction of the most grotesque pain.
This is certainly not something you see in a mainstream movie every day.
Yes, we know some Scandinavians like to smack each other with twigs when they visit the sauna but Dogs Don't Wear Pants is a whole new level.
J.-P. Valkeapää's film suggests that it is therapy after the wife of its key player (Pekka Strang) drowns on holiday.
More than a decade after the tragedy, Strang's character, Juha, seems to be walking around in a trance despite being a frontline surgeon and the surviving parent of a now-teenage daughter (Ilona Huhta).
Inadvertently, he discovers the chamber of a dominatrix (Krista Kosonen) while wandering at the back of a tattoo artist's shop as his daughter is having her ear pierced.
The latex-clad young woman attacks him, setting off his desire to be further humiliated and sent into near unconsciousness.
Dogs Don't wear Pants is an unusual slant on bereavement because it introduces the concept of trying to see a loved one while near death.
It also becomes the very strangest of love stories between the dominatrix and her 'dog'.
I have read that Strang asked for Kosonen not to hold back because he didn't want to look like he was acting.
I certainly hope that wasn't the case in one particular scene which had me squirming in my seat.
Indeed, Valkeapää's film does not make easy viewing throughout - unless you are into pain infliction.
Nevertheless, it is well-acted and its lighting and sombre music evoke an atmosphere which combines foreboding and eroticism.
By its conclusion, I couldn't decide whether I felt sorry for Juha or was happy for him. Either way, emotion was stirred.

Reasons to watch: Different from any movie you will see this year
Reasons to avoid: A tad repetitious

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? As far back as the 1590s, flagellation within an erotic setting is recorded. The profession features in erotic prints of the era, such as the British Museum mezzotint "The Cully Flaug'd" (c. 1674–1702), and in accounts of forbidden books which record the flogging schools and the activities practised.

Final word. Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää: "I received some advice from an SM dominatrix who had worked 20 years in the business and helped with the script. I even attended sessions with her. That inspired me to find the right costumes, tones for the BDSM scenes. BDSM is of course about fantasy, sexual pleasure, but there is also an interesting element of therapy in it." Nordisk Film & TV Fond

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