Princess (film)



Princess is a 2006 animated movie by Danish director Anders Morgenthaler, otherwise perhaps best known for his work on the newspaper comic Wulfmorgenthaler that features Dolph the Fascist Hippo. The story centers around 32-year old missionary August. After the death of his sister Christina, a porn star known as Princess, he takes in her five year old daughter Mia trying to overcome his feelings of guilt that he was unable to save her mother. Upon finding out that his niece has suffered abuse at the hands of her mothers employers and that said employers continue to exploit his dead sister's image he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the porn industry. In particular he wants to get even with Charlie, the person he holds responsible for getting his sister involved with porn in the first place. Morgenthaler intended this movie as a critique of the objectification of women in the porn industry. Princess (much in the same way as Waltz With Bashir) combines animation with live action for dramatic effect.

Princess won three awards at European filmfestivals and was nominated for the Robert Award (Danish equivalent to the Oscar) for best movie.

Princess provides examples of

 * Animesque
 * Badass Preacher: August, while on a his quest for revenge, at one point taking out five armed Mooks by himself.
 * Berserk Button: For August finding out that his sister's grave has been turned into a shrine for her porn persona Princess complete with dildo shaped pillars and even more so reading Mia's medical file and finding out the extent to which she has been abused.
 * Big Brother Instinct: After the death of their parents, August felt responsible of looking after Christina and feels guily as hell for not succeeding at the job.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The card the old hooker gives to Mia in case she should ever need help
 * Downer Ending
 * Everything's Better With Princesses: Rather brutally averted. Princess is Christina's porn star persona and the only way in which most people other than August and Mia remember her.
 * Fan Disservice There are various scenes of sex and nudity but they are never appealing. The one where August violently interrupts an aging prostitute and her client stands out.
 * Groin Attack: After finding out that Paradise Lust's CEO has been, he has Mia hit him in the aforementioned spot with a crowbar.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: August.
 * Jail Bait: When their landlord threatened to kick them out, the still below age of consent Christina seduced him while her boyfriend filmed them with August's camera to blackmail him.
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Medium Blending
 * No Pregger Sex Averted. In the very first scene August finds Christina shooting a porn scene while pregnant.
 * Orphan's Ordeal After the death of their parents August and Christina had to manage together. Several flashbacks reveal how their troubles brought Christina to pursue a career as a porn actress.
 * POV Cam The live action flashbacks are this, filmed by a younger August.
 * Stuff Blowing Up August's quest to destroy all of the pornographic images of his dead sister is basically a montage of this.
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Mia has very disturbing tendencies due to having grown up around her porn star mother.
 * The Un-Reveal: The movie leaves it ambiguous whether Charlie is Mia's father.
 * The Unseen: Both Christina -minus the first scene mentioned above where her face is never visible - and Charlie are only seen in their live action versions.
 * What Measure Is a Mook? Averted. When August kills the Mooks mentioned above we see a brief montage of their funerals.
 * What the Hell, Hero? August slapping Mia. He does apologize immediately afterwards.