Salon Kitty Blu-ray Review

• 27th May 2011

It’s an interesting premise, to say the least. The ultimate honey-trap; a Nazi brothel riddled with recording devices and filled only with Aryan beauties.

Originally released in 1976, Salon Kitty is 133 graphic minutes of subversive sex littered with cabaret and unthinkably bigoted politics. Don’t be fooled into thinking it is any less shocking now than it was then. The long corridor of cells, through the bars of which Helmut stares defiant and unblinking, is a catalogue of horrors. Like a perverted advent calendar, there’s a different horror to behold in each window as supple Aryan bodies entwine with various minority groups before our callous protagonist decides their fate. Just imagining – let alone witnessing – such young, innocent looking women literally giving themselves to support the Nazi movement is revolting and saddening, yet undeniably fascinating.

The scene that made me recoil the most is when a pig is killed and its entrails crudely used as playthings. It’s violent, disorientating and difficult to watch as men and women primitively delight in the process. Similarly, the tense, artfully-shot scene (even the fish look awestruck) in which a young woman destroys a small Jewish boy’s toy drives home the mercilessness and unfounded cruelty of scapegoating.

There’s nothing sensuous about the sex scenes, unless they beckon to deviant inner fetishists. Even then, I’d imagine the background story’s omnipresence in the scenery and dialogue would prevent anyone from switching off enough to experience any gratification. Here sex is a weapon, a tool, a means to control and test others. The clinical, dismissive approach to naked cadavers (and the assertion that Jesus himself was a perfect Aryan specimen) on the basis of their ‘inferiorities’ rather than their ailments is haunting and epitomises the insignificance of nudity in this wider context. Even if you err on the prudish side, you’re likely to find yourself rapidly desensitised to full-frontal nudity within the first 20 minutes, especially after the shameless simulated orgy between the recruits – it becomes more distasteful and surprising to see an SS uniform than a naked figure. The orgy is also an opportunity to witness some artistic camera work which further prevents the film descending into simple pornography; close-ups on individual couples interspersed with wide shots of all these young people simultaneously ‘being creative’, surrounded by swastikas on a grand stage-like set. The recurrent use of close-up in the ‘sex’ scenes doesn’t lend them intimacy, just a sense of voyeurism and intrusion, even detachment.

That’s not to say the use of sex isn’t disturbing; indeed, any film which associates sex and the Nazi regime is, by definition, uneasy viewing…but is it all just shock factor? I think it’s fair to say that the use of nudity is so sexless it’d be a stretch to call it gratuitous. The characters themselves are degraded, but the inclusion of every group imaginable – man, woman, amputee – means no one should feel misrepresented. Yes, women are being used for their bodies, but only because this is the horrific truth behind this story; I don’t feel the actresses have been exploited by Brass.

This brings me to consider exactly how far this is ‘based on a true story’. Perhaps it’s because the true horror of Nazi brutality is beyond our grasp today, but this claim doesn’t lend the story much credibility. The burlesque numbers seem tame amidst all this flesh, brutality and sexual activity, but they’re still exaggerated and peculiar. They also spread the story even more thinly. So why are these periods of respite included? It’s hard to know if Tinto Brass is pulling his audience back from the brink of anguish, lulling us into a temporary sense of security to increase the impact of the brothel’s hidden horrors, or making a statement. Is the opulence included to further reflect a National Socialist obsession with appearances? Or is it intended to contrast with the bare but oppressive rooms in the brothel, to show how meaningless the lives of these women were really considered? In any case, it succeeds in being an unforgettable, thought-provoking and entirely unique cinematic experience. Whether it was really this easy to convince young, beautiful German maidens that this was a respectable profession and contribution to society, I’ll never know, but I believe but the perversity inside the film’s brothel only parallels the perversity of Nazi ideologies.

I’m inclined to believe this release’s edited predecessors were more entertaining, not because they contain less disarming, grotesque sequences but because they are a more suitable length for presenting the story’s content and less disjointed. Marguerite – the backbone of the brothel’s resistance – is beautiful but, like most of the characters, lacks the development to really showcase much acting talent. The visuals are what’s effective here, not the cast; Brass relies on the idea of the hideous underbelly of Nazism to affect his audience instead of weaving a plot full of intricacy and suggestion others may have preferred.

Though re-mastered, it still has the most jarring Blu-ray visuals I’ve seen to date, but this compliments the film’s content. The gaudy colours are a further assault on the eyes, anchoring the story firmly in a time and place to save any explanation. The booklet that’s included with the DVD will answer some historical questions, but if it’s history you’re interested in, you might be better off borrowing the booklet from someone else’s copy and skipping the film (although this is an aspect of Nazi terror you didn’t study at school). The interview with the director himself is arguably more informative than the film itself, and if you haven’t seen any of his work before, wait until after you’ve watched the film to see this – it’s interesting to compare your expectations to the real man behind the movie.

If you’re interested in shock cinema, here’s a film to test your limits. If you’re interested in debauched but erotic scenes, perhaps you should try Brass’s Caligula instead. And if you’re just looking for some easy-to-watch entertainment, this film is to be avoided at all costs… although it’s impossible not to be intrigued now you’ve heard that it exists…

Lauren Felton