“Sweet Movie” is a controversial avant-garde film directed by Dusan Makavejev and released in 1974. The movie explores sex, politics, and human nature, using a nonlinear structure and a series of loosely connected vignettes. The film follows two main storylines.
The first centers around a beautiful young woman named Miss Canada (played by Carole Laure), who wins a beauty pageant and is married to an aging billionaire named Mr. Kapital. Kapital takes her on a bizarre honeymoon aboard his yacht, where he tries to buy her affection with lavish gifts and exotic experiences. But Miss Canada soon rebels against her captor and escapes, eventually ending up in a communist collective in Paris, where she becomes a revolutionary symbol.
The second storyline focuses on a group of children in Amsterdam who are taught about sex by a woman named Anna Planeta. Planeta is a former porn star who believes in the liberating power of sexual freedom.
Throughout the movie, Makavejev uses surreal imagery, startling juxtapositions, and explicit sexuality to challenge conventional ideas about morality and human behavior. The film is both a satire of capitalist excess and a celebration of radical individualism, presenting a vision of a world where all taboos are shattered, and all desires are indulged. The movie was initially banned in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for its graphic content and provocative themes. However, it has since gained a cult following and is regarded as a groundbreaking work of avant-garde cinema. Despite its controversial nature, Sweet Movie remains an important cultural artifact that challenges audiences to rethink their assumptions about sex, power, and freedom.
You can buy the film HERE via the Criterion Collection
The Other Cinema 