“A Call Girl” (aka “Slovenka” or “Slovenian Girl”) is a difficult film to watch. It is a cold eastern-European story of a hardened woman who turns tricks to support a lifestyle that would usually be beyond her means. She goes to school. She is buying her own apartment. It isn’t the ideal life, but it gives her a sense of independence and progress. Unfortunately, her choices are taking their toll. She is clearly detached from real emotions… perhaps numb as a method of self-preservation. She is trading happiness for security.
Unfortunately, due to a hotel rendezvous with a politician, who keels over and dies before they can do business, she makes the national headlines as a mystery call-girl. The country is searching for her with a vague description. Even worse, the people who find her first are not at all interested in justice. They are interested in blackmailing her unless she agrees to “protection” — the polite word for pimping.
The story also involves her strained relationships with family, friends and ex-boyfriends. Nothing in this girl’s life is easy. It is an ultimately sad movie about the harsh realities of life without money in the eastern block. The central performance is magnificent. Nina Ivanisin gives us a truly wonderful effort here. I believed every gesture… every glance. She is the reason a viewer can make it through the grim story. She makes us care.
