Her Private Hell (1968 film)
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- Lucia Modugno
- Terry Skelton
- Daniel Ollier
- Pearl Catlin
- Robert Crewdson
| Her Private Hell | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the BFI Flipside Blu‑ray/DVD release | |
| Directed by | Norman J. Warren |
| Screenplay by | Glynn Christian |
| Produced by | Bachoo Sen |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Peter Jessop |
| Edited by | Norman J. Warren (uncredited) |
| Music by | John Scott |
Production company | Piccadilly Pictures |
| Distributed by | Richard Schulman Entertainments |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages |
|
| Budget | £18,000 |
Her Private Hell is a 1968 British sexploitation film directed by Norman J. Warren and starring Lucia Modugno.[2] It was written by Glynn Christian. The film was Warren's directorial debut and the first of two films, the second being Loving Feeling (1968), that Warren made for Bachoo Sen and Richard Schulman, founders of Piccadilly Pictures.
It has been called "Britain's first narrative sex film".[3][4]
A young Italian woman called Marisa arrives in London to model for a magazine owned by Neville and Margaret. She is sent to live in an ultramodern flat belonging to Bernie, the magazine's top photographer – ostensibly for her safety, but in reality to prevent her from being poached by rival publications. Though surrounded by luxury, Marisa comes to realise that her employers control nearly every aspect of her life. She begins a sexual relationship with Bernie but quickly learns that she is not the first model he has seduced.
Although Marisa is only willing to pose semi-clothed, Neville wants the magazine to show full nudity. Matt – a younger, up-and-coming photographer – urges Marisa to leave, claiming that Neville, Margaret and Bernie see her as nothing more than a "money-making machine". Later, Matt drives Marisa to the countryside for an avant-garde photoshoot in which Marisa freely poses nude. Marisa becomes romantically involved with Matt, creating a love triangle with him and Bernie.
Matt's photos end up in Margaret's possession. Later, to Marisa's torment, they are published in a foreign magazine. Margaret, Matt and Bernie all deny selling the photos. Matt is disturbed by the leak and wants to take Marisa away. He confronts Neville, who offers him his own studio if he drops the matter. Meanwhile, Marisa is determined to leave with Bernie, but has a change of heart when Matt denounces Margaret and Bernie to their faces, telling them that "integrity and self-respect are more important than money." Matt and Marisa drive away together. Bernie comforts a tearful Margaret, assuring her that "there'll be others."
The final scene reveals that Bernie and Margaret are married, that Margaret condones Bernie's affairs and that no one told Marisa she was sleeping with Margaret's husband.
Cast
- Lucia Modugno as Marisa
- Terry Skelton as Bernie
- Pearl Catlin as Margaret
- Daniel Ollier as Matt
- Jeanette Wild as Paula
- Mary Land as Sally
- Robert Crewdson as Neville
- Michael Craze as Party Guest[1]
Themes
Josephine Botting of the British Film Institute (BFI) has commented on the film's atmosphere of isolation, felt especially by the naive Marisa, and the distrust that it engenders among the characters. According to Botting: "In Her Private Hell, suspicion springs from a sense of the characters' remoteness from each other, both literal and metaphorical. The use of location adds to the feeling – characters enter and leave Bernie's flat with no indication of where they've been or where they're going [...]"[3]
Botting and David McGillivray also identify a theme of power and manipulation, noting that Margaret and Bernie use sex to control others. Both characterise this open-mindedness to adultery as acceptance of a swinging lifestyle. McGillivray describes this as an "early reference to sexual behaviour that was to become a popular theme in exploitation movies of the early 1970s". He compares the film's "corruption-of-the-innocent" premise to the plots of 1930s American melodramas such as Reefer Madness (1936).[3]
Production
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According to Warren, producer Bachoo Sen had approached Richard Schulman, owner of London's Paris Pullman Cinema, with a proposal to set up a film production partnership. At the time of the meeting, Schulman was screening Warren's short film Fragment. As Sen and Schulman were lacking a director, Sen contacted Warren with an offer to make two films for them, which Warren accepted. In Warren's own words, "I had no idea what the film would be, but to be honest, I would have said yes to anything. I was 25 and desperate to direct a feature film."[5]
Her Private Hell was written by Glynn Christian, a New Zealand immigrant who based the story on his own experiences as a foreigner living in 1960s London.[3] The film was shot in two weeks between August and September 1967, on a budget of £18,000 (approximately £413,000 in 2023).[1][3][5] Filming was conducted at London's Isleworth Studios alongside the biopic Isadora, as well as on location at Branch Hill Lodge, Branch Hill, Hampstead.[1][3] To keep production costs down, Warren edited the film himself.[5]
Tony Britton and Peter Reynolds were considered for roles in the film. Udo Kier auditioned for the part of Matt but lost to French actor Daniel Ollier. Due to Ollier's thick accent, the character's lines were dubbed by another actor. Italian actress Lucia Modugno knew little English at the time of production. Botting speculates that Sen cast Modugno and Ollier to boost the film's appeal to audiences in continental Europe.[3]
