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- Fetishes [2003] [DVD/Video – Other]
Fetishes
A wide-open mind would be a real boon towards enjoying this adult-oriented, way off-beat documentary look into the shadowy world of professional dominatrices and the masochistic slaves who pay dearly to be abused, ridiculed and tortured. British documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield directed and narrates; he spent two months in a Manhattan house of domination interviewing both the mistress' and their diverse clientele. Though relatively few in the US actually participate in S&M, it is an extremely lucrative business. Highlights include scenes where a retired bank manager allows himself to be photographed being led around naked on all fours with a dog collar on his neck, a Wall Street Stock Broker with a thing for rubber and an interview with Pandora, the meanest mistress in the company. Pandora sleeps with Spike, an ill-tempered giant iguana. While Pandora complains that her scaly companion has recently frightened away any prospective lovers, Spike punctuates that by biting the cameraman Christopher Lanzenberg. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
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Product Details
| UPC: | 082551741229 |
|---|---|
| Release Date: | February 16, 1999 |
| Format: | Other |
| MPAA Rating: | NR |
| Region: | All (Universal compatibility) |
| Sound: | PCM stereo |
| Language: | English |
| Disc Aspect Ratio: | 1.33:1 |
| Genre: | Culture & Society |
Review
Although it makes for no less fascinating a portrait of the S&M scene, director Nick Broomfield finds his usual approach to documentary filmmaking has its limits with Fetishes. Usually Broomfield, dealing with charlatans, simply plays dumb and lets his subjects explain themselves into incrimination, but in this film he finds subjects even more adept at role playing than himself; try as he might, he can never get the dominatrices to reveal anything less than a total commitment to their profession. Once the shock value of the subject matter wears away (which it does fairly quickly, even as the director trots out subjects with an ever-deepening commitment to humiliation), and the mistresses drop their guard a bit, their insistence on S&M's therapeutic value becomes quite persuasive. One client even insists that it keeps him from acting on his violent fantasies. Social value aside, the film makes a good case for putting prudery aside and acknowledging that for some people this kind of ritual shaming fulfills a psychological need incapable of being met elsewhere. In the end, even the eternally skeptical Broomfield seems convinced. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie GuideCredits
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Nick Broomfield | Director |
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