Breaking Point (1975 film)

Last updated
Breaking Point
BreakingPoint1975Poster.jpg
Film poster
Breaking Point - Pornografisk thriller
Directed by Bo Arne Vibenius
Screenplay byNat Sharp
Bo Arne Vibenius
Story byBo Arne Vibenius
Produced byBo Arne Vibenius
StarringAndreas Bellis
CinematographyAdam de Loup
Edited byRobert Taylor
Music by Ralph Lundsten
Production
company
Audiovision Investment
Distributed byElit-Film
Release date
  • October 13, 1975 (1975-10-13)(Sweden)
Running time
95 minutes
CountrySweden
LanguageEnglish

Breaking Point is a 1975 Swedish adult thriller film written and directed Bo Arne Vibenius. [1] [2]

Contents

In the film, an office worker resorts to a series of rapes to deal with his sexual urges. When he is taken hostage by bank robbers, he proceeds to kill the robbers and to attack a police helicopter. Before rushing to the airport, where he is reunited with his returning wife and daughter.

Plot

A man named Bob Bellings rapes a woman in her apartment, then fatally bludgeons her with an ashtray. The next day, Bob goes to work at his office, where he watches a newscast in which a psychiatric expert explains that women should not resist being sexually assaulted, as that is what most predators want, and that 89% of surveyed women admitted to wanting to be raped at least once in their lives.

One of Bob's fellow employees (who are all female) later teases him in a sexual manner, which prompts Bob into going out for his break, during which he stalks and has sex with a woman. Bob returns to work and watches another newscast, which announces that the government will be issuing requisition cards that authorized citizens can take to gun shops and exchange for side arms.

After another encounter with his promiscuous coworker, Bob leaves work, rents a car, and follows another woman to her home and rapes her. She responds by stabbing him with a pair of scissors during the act. When the woman tries to escape, Bob uses his car to knock hers off of the road and into a house, causing a fiery explosion. Bob then goes home and masturbates into a coffee cup, which he tricks the employee who had been taunting him into drinking from.

Bob proceeds to turn his requisition card in for a handgun, which the overzealous clerk provides explosive "fragmentation ammo" for. Upon leaving the munitions shop, Bob snatches a young girl from a playground, and eats candy with her in the woods before dropping her off at her house. Afterward, Bob practices with his gun, and picks up and has sex with a female hitchhiker, who at one point rides the gear shift of Bob's rental car (which Bob later returns, sans the gear shift's knob).

Bob is subsequently mugged, and then taken hostage by a trio of bank robbers, who decide to execute him. Bob uses his fragmentation rounds to kill the thieves before shooting down a police helicopter and escaping in a hijacked car. The film ends with Bob going to an airport and reuniting with his wife and daughter, who were away on a trip. When his wife asks him what he has been up to in her absence, Bob replies, "Oh, you know nothing ever happens in this shit town".

Cast

Release

Created primarily for foreign markets, Breaking Point, like Vibenius's previous film Thriller – A Cruel Picture , was banned in its home country of Sweden. [1]

Reception

Jack Stevenson, the author of Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s, noted that the film was "even more bizarre" than Thriller – A Cruel Picture , and was "tasteless, violent, pornographic and some would certainly say misogynist - all meant no doubt to reflect the sickness endemic in society at large". [1] Daniel Ekeroth, author of Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers, and Kicker Cinema, similarly categorized Breaking Point as "completely crazy" and "one of the sickest and slowest films ever made". [3] In a review written for Trash Cinema: A Celebration of Overlooked Masterpieces, Michael Harris opined that the film "creates a fantastic sense of insecurity" and is "a wonderful achievement in simplicity and confrontationalism without being confrontational". [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Thriller – A Cruel Picture</i> 1973 Swedish exploitation film by Bo Arne Vibenius

Thriller – A Cruel Picture is a 1973 Swedish rape-and-revenge exploitation film written and directed by Bo Arne Vibenius under the pseudonym Alex Fridolinski, and starring Christina Lindberg and Heinz Hopf. It tells the story of a mute young woman who is forced into heroin addiction and prostitution, and her subsequent revenge on the men responsible.

<i>The Last Seduction</i> 1994 neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by John Dahl

The Last Seduction is a 1994 American neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by John Dahl, featuring Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, and Bill Pullman. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and distributed by October Films. Fiorentino's performance garnered widespread critical acclaim and generated talk of an Oscar nomination, but she was deemed ineligible because the film was shown on HBO before its theatrical release. October Films and ITC Entertainment sued the Academy, but were unable to make Fiorentino eligible for a nomination.

<i>In the Cut</i> (film) 2003 film by Jane Campion

In the Cut is a 2003 psychological thriller film written and directed by Jane Campion and starring Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kevin Bacon. Campion's screenplay is an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by Susanna Moore. The film focuses on an English teacher who becomes personally entangled with a detective investigating a series of gruesome murders in her Manhattan neighborhood.

<i>Baise-moi</i> 2000 film by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi

Baise-moi is a 2000 French erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi and starring Karen Lancaume and Raffaëla Anderson. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1993. The film received intense media coverage because of its graphic mix of violence and explicit sex scenes. Consequently, it is sometimes considered an example of the "New French Extremity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina Lindberg</span> Swedish actress

Britt Christina Marinette Lindberg is a Swedish journalist known internationally for her work as an actress and glamour model in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

<i>Poison Ivy II: Lily</i> 1996 American film

Poison Ivy II: Lily is a 1996 American direct-to-video erotic thriller film directed by Anne Goursaud, written by Chloe King and stars Alyssa Milano. It is a sequel to the 1992 film Poison Ivy and the second installment of the Poison Ivy film series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotic horror</span> Subgenre of horror fiction

Erotic horror, alternately called horror erotica or dark erotica, is a genre of fiction in which sensual or sexual imagery are blended with horrific overtones or story elements for the purpose of sexual titillation. Horror fiction of this type is most common in literature and film.

Bo Arne Vibenius is a Swedish film director, most famous for his exploitation classics Breaking Point and Thriller – A Cruel Picture. The latter served as an influence on Quentin Tarantino when making his Kill Bill films and Tarantino has called it "the roughest revenge movie ever made."

<i>Going Places</i> (1974 film) 1974 French film

Going Places is a 1974 French comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Bertrand Blier, and based on his own novel. Its original title is Les Valseuses, which translates into English as "the waltzers", a vulgar French slang term for "the testicles". It stars Miou-Miou, Gérard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinz Hopf (actor)</span> Swedish actor (1934–2001)

Heinz Willy Gustav Hopf was a Swedish actor.

<i>Jade</i> (1995 film) 1995 American erotic thriller film by William Friedkin

Jade is a 1995 American erotic thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, directed by William Friedkin, and starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna, and Michael Biehn. The original music score was composed by James Horner based on a song composed by Loreena McKennitt. The film was marketed with the tagline "Some fantasies go too far."

<i>The Silence</i> (1963 film) 1963 Swedish film

The Silence is a 1963 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom. The plot focuses on two sisters, the younger a sensuous woman with a young son, the elder more intellectually oriented and seriously ill, and their tense relationship as they travel toward home through a fictional Central European country on the brink of war.

Rape and revenge, or rape-revenge, is a horror film subgenre characterized by an individual enacting revenge for rape or other sexual acts committed against them. Rape and revenge films are also commonly thrillers or vigilante films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex in film</span> Sex in mainstream film

Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, especially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or have been banned or censored by governments, although attitudes have changed much along the years and a more permissive social environment has developed in certain parts of the world, notably in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In countries with a film rating system, films which contain explicit sex scenes typically receive a restricted classification. Nudity in film may be regarded as sexual or as non-sexual.

<i>Forced Entry</i> (1973 film) 1973 film by Shaun Costello

Forced Entry is a 1973 adult horror film written and directed by Shaun Costello under the pseudonym Helmuth Richler. It stars Harry Reems as an unnamed and psychotic Vietnam War veteran who sexually assaults and kills women who stop at the filling station where he works as an attendant. Called "one of the most disturbing and unpleasant porn features ever made," the film utilizes actual footage of the war, predominantly in the rape and murder sequences.

<i>Son of a Gun</i> (film) 2014 film by Julius Avery

Son of a Gun is a 2014 crime thriller film written and directed by Julius Avery. It stars Ewan McGregor, Brenton Thwaites, Alicia Vikander, and Jacek Koman.

<i>Come Deadly</i> 1974 American film

Come Deadly is a 1974 pornographic horror film written and directed by Gil Kenston.

<i>Queen of Hearts</i> (2019 film) 2019 film

Queen of Hearts is a 2019 Danish drama film directed by May el-Toukhy, and starring Trine Dyrholm and Gustav Lindh. The Danish and English film titles obliquely refer to the Queen of Hearts character in the children's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which is mentioned repeatedly in the film. The film was selected as the Danish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, though it was not nominated. The film won the 2019 Nordic Council Film Prize.

<i>365 Days</i> (2020 film) 2020 erotic thriller film

365 Days is a 2020 Polish erotic thriller film directed by Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes. Based on the first novel of a trilogy by Blanka Lipińska, the plot follows a young Warsaw woman in a relationship falling for a Sicilian man, who imprisons and imposes on her a period of 365 days for her to fall in love with him.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jack Stevenson (2010). Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s. McFarland & Company. p. 212. ISBN   9780786444885. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 Andrew J. Rausch and R.D. Riley (2015). Trash Cinema: A Celebration of Overlooked Masterpieces. BearManor Media. ISBN   9781593938222 . Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  3. Pacheco, George (15 April 2011). "Lingonberries and Lindberg: Daniel Ekeroth exposes 'Swedish Sensationsfilms'". Examiner.com.