A Serbian Film (Српски филм / Srpski film) is a 2010 Horror/exploitation/Euroshlock/arthouse film shot, set, and allegorical of life in Serbia, directed by Srđan Spasojević. It is about Miloš, a porn star who is hired for a new film project and kept in the dark about its true nature... because he wouldn't have agreed otherwise.
The plot follows Miloš trying to retire from the porn industry, only to be promised a vast sum of money to appear in a high concept "art" film, directed by a seemingly eccentric former child psychologist named Vukmir who will not provide Miloš with a script, only an earpiece through which Vukmir will direct him as he is filmed.
Entering the film with misgivings, it only gets worse for Miloš, as it soon becomes apparent that he is involved in a very questionable film. After a particularly unsettling series of violent pornographic shoots, Miloš tries to quit, only to be kidnapped, drugged and forced back into the production. He wakes up three days after the kidnapping, with only a video camera and some tapes in his possession. Miloš watches the tapes to regain his memory, and discovers the horrors that he has witnessed.
Since its debut on the art film circuit in 2010, A Serbian Film has become infamous for its extremely graphic depictions of both sexual and nonsexual violence, specifically those inflicted on minors. The film has been banned in at least six countries (at some point or another), and many have required substantial edits in order to secure even the highest of possible age ratings—most notably in the U.S. and the U.K., where between four and five minutes worth of shots had to be cut before it was granted an NC-17 and 18 certificates, respectively. However, this has not stopped certain distributors from releasing the full uncut version of the film on home video. Even now—more than 10 years after its initial release—it is still widely considered to be one of (if not the) most disturbing film(s) ever made. Thus, it is advisable that one proceed with caution should they attempt to look for the movie either here, or outside of TV Tropes.
WARNING: The contents of the film are widely considered to be extremely disturbing, so check the examples below at your own risk. As such, all spoilers will be unmarked. Bring the Brain Bleach if necessary.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Vukmir Vukmir.
- Asshole Victim:
- Vukmir and his snuff film crew (especially Raša). Given the numerous atrocities they commit throughout the movie, it sure is gratifying to see Miloš kill these bastards for good.
- Likewise, Marko was a corrupt police officer who willingly violated Marija in front of Miloš. Much like Vukmir, he definitely deserved to die.
- Balkan Bastard: The antagonists are a group of filmmakers who force their victims to commit extremely depraved acts on camera. The film's director Srđan Spasojević, has described it as an allegory for the corrupt government of Serbia.
- Beard of Evil: Vukmir is a bearded, depraved artist who creates horrifying snuff films.
- Big Bad: Vukmir is the director of the film Miloš is forced into and the one behind all of the suffering in the movie. Though when he's dead the project continues with a new set of film makers.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Miloš is able to get and maintain an erection without any emotional or physical stimulus, making him a perfect porn star again, but also enabling him to be a participant in Vukmir's film.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Miloš, courtesy of being injected with copious amounts of cattle aphrodisiacs, turning him into an unstoppable fucking machine who rapes every hole he sees.
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Broken Aesop: Complaints of disturbing content aside, one of the most frequent criticisms of the film is that its supposed commentary on life in post-war Serbia doesn't come across very well, at least for non-Serbs. Not only are Miloš and his family shown to be living in a rather large and ostentatious home which is pretty at odds with their supposed financial hardshipsnote , but the portrayal of Vukmir and his snuff film crew as a supposed allegory for government corruption in Serbia (with Miloš and his family representing the civilians abused under the system) is rather abstract and too much of a worst-case scenario for most non-Serbs to take seriously. The premise hit a little closer to home—both metaphorically and literally—in the film's own native Serbia (where the collapse of the socialist welfare state and numerous war crime convictions left the majority of government staff broke, forcing several of the country's most impoverished citizens into the sex industry as a means of income), though even there, it is still very much dependent on the viewer already harboring a great deal of resentment towards its government and the means to which many Serbs must resort in order to make ends meet in a post-war society. - Crapsack World: The film's setting, and according to itself, Serbia as a whole.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Deaths in the film are extremely graphic and painful.
- Dark Is Evil: Vukmir is always seen wearing black clothes in all of his scenes. He forces his victims to do very disturbing things for his "film".
- Desecrating the Dead: Towards the end of the film as Milos realized what he had done, he furiously smashes the bloody head of Marcos' corpse with a statue while in despair.
- Despair Event Horizon: Miloš crosses this after viewing the tapes of what he was forced to do, and it leads him to kill his wife, son, and himself.
- Dirty Cop: Milos' brother Marko is a corrupt policeman and a disgusting pervert who murdered a woman by ripping out her teeth and decapitating her.
- Downer Ending: Miloš and his family are Driven to Suicide, which if anything, seems rather merciful after all the horrors they've been through. Then a new group of filmmakers, completely different from the ones Miloš had to take on, film a porn star raping their corpses. Starting with their son.
- Drone of Dread: The soundtrack makes extensive use of these, particularly during the scenes wherein Miloš is forced to star in Vukmir's film, as well as the infamous "Newborn porn" scene.
- Euroshlock: Perhaps one of the most infamous examples in recent memory. The film is filled with extremely disgusting violence and sexual content, often both at the same time.
- Eye Scream: Miloš stabs Rasa in the eye socket with his own penis no less.
- Fake-Out Opening: The movie opens with Milos graphically humping a sex worker in a seedy back alley, before the scene turns out to be from a television set... being watched by Milos' six-year-old son, Petar, no less! Later in the film, Milo ends up getting reprimanded by his wife Marija for leaving behind one of the porno tapes starring himself in the DVD player where their son could see it.
- Fan Disservice: It's either the naked person who gets their head removed while being raped by Milos, or the other ex-porn star who gets throat-fucked to their death... while bleeding from having all their teeth ripped out. With a graphic close-up on their breasts which are covered in their blood. Your pick.
- Fat Bastard: Vukmir's henchman, Raša, a creep who delightfully partakes in raping an infant and later had no qualms partaking in ruining Milos' life. Fittingly, he suffers the most spectacularly gruesome and ironic death in the whole movie.
- Fille Fatale: Jeca is an underage prostitute who is a willing participant in Vukmir's snuff film.
- Flat "What": Or "where". Milos, returning home the night after first day of shooting to his half-asleep wife Marija, said he's filming a porno in a children's orphanage. Marija lets out a quizzical "...where?" and the scene abruptly cuts to next morning.
- Former Regime Personnel: Vukmir was a former security officer and a psychologist that worked in Yugoslav children's television prior to becoming a snuff film pornographer.
- From Bad to Worse: After Miloš has seen and experienced some of the most atrocious acts of humanity, including raping his own son and witnessing his brother willingly rape his wife, he and his family decide to kill themselves—only to then have their home invaded by another set of sadistic filmmakers, who tell their porn actor to "start with the little one."
- Full-Frontal Assault: A blood-covered, naked Milos kills Vukmir and his entire view.
- Gorn: All over the place when Jeca's mother is decapitated; also when Miloš fights back against Vukmir and his film crew.
- Gratuitous English: The film's dialogue is entirely Serbian yet there is one line of stilted English for one scene which is "Newborn porn!"
- Groin Attack: On his first day of filming Vukmir's porn film, Milos has his penis bitten by a woman who's supposed to fellate him. Right before he then ejaculates into her face. And later in the film, Milos threatening to slice off his own penis after Vukmir pushed him too far.
- Harmful to Minors: Where to even begin!. You have a man doing terrible things to a baby and graphic father on son ass-rape.
- Hate Sink: The audience clearly isn't meant to see Vukmir in a positive light, being an unscrupulous, manipulative porn director who will ruin an innocent man's life and even endorse child molestation in order to make his perfect "art" film. Marko and Raša the Fat Bastard also count due to being sheer loathsome creeps.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Vukmir's doctor, who is about to administer another shot of cattle viagra into Milos, doesn't notice she unintentionally left a syringe full of viagra within Milos' reach. Milos then grabs that syringe and stabs the doctor with it, injecting her with her own viagra. A scene some few minutes later has the doctor reappearing, her crotch covered in blood, and holding a bloodied iron pipe which she used as an impromptu dildo, where she had literally masturbated to death.
- I'll Be in My Bunk: After being rebuffed by his sister in-law, Marko goes to the washroom to jerk off, something made even creepier when it starts randomly cutting to Miloš's son eating an ice cream cone.
- I Love the Dead:
- A woman is decapitated mid-rape, not that that stops the sexual assault.
- Rasa the Fat Bastard is implied to be another necrophile, after killing a pair of punks he's seen trying to remove one of their pants, as if ready to fellate the body.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: With a penis. To the eye.
- In-Universe Camera: How Miloš retrieves the memories of his horrible actions.
- Machete Mayhem: What Jeca has her head chopped off with.
- Mad Artist: Vukmir genuinely believes in the power of his cinema and is invested in his vision. His sick and twisted vision...
- Mind Screw: The plot. Especially in the UK cut, where several important scenes are removed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Milos realizes this by the near end of the film.
- Neck Snap: When a couple of punks are assaulting Milos (who, under the effect of copious amounts of bull viagra, is masturbating in public) Rasa interrupts them by snapping both their necks. Rasa then prepares to remove one of their pants, probably to fellate the corpse, but Vukmir tells him to quit it and get back to work.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: How Miloš deals with Vukmir. He brutally kills him and the snuff film crew.
- Nothing Is Scarier: In edited versions of the film, the baby's rape is shown offscreen, but you can only hear crying before it cuts away.
- Off with His Head!: The person Miloš decapitates while violating them... and continues violating after they're dead.
- One-Hit Polykill: How Miloš commits suicide with his family, by firing a single bullet through himself, his son and his wife, as they hold onto each other.
- Parental Incest: Miloš is manipulated into raping his own son.
- Pater Familicide: Miloš commits suicide together with his wife and child at the end of the film.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Miloš' Roaring Rampage of Revenge is pretty brutal, but given the complete monsters he's inflicting it on, it's hard to perceive as unjustified.
- Man Bites Man: Marco is killed when Marija, snapping out while being sodomized by him, pounces on Marco and bites his throat out. With a close-up on his trachea leaking blood like a burst pipe.
- Rape Discretion Shot: "Start with the little one."note
- Repetitive Name: Vukmir Vukmir.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Miloš undertakes one in the climax, killing Vukmir and the people involved in his snuff film operation.
- R-Rated Opening: The film pulls absolutely no punches to establishing that it's NSFW when the first scene is Miloš having sex with another pornstar. And it gets much, much more graphic from there.
- Rule of Symbolism: According to the director, the film is an allegory of the autocratic government of Serbia with Vukmir and his film crew representing the brutal tyrants and Miloš as the civilians who are mistreated by the system.
- Shower of Angst: Milos has one of these at the end of the film, after realizing what he have done to his family under the influence of Vukmir's drugs. After the end credits, the audience would probably want to do the same thing.
- Slipping a Mickey: The method Vukmir uses to arouse Milos and manipulates him to follow his bidding—by spiking the whiskey Miloš drank with an extra powerful dose of cattle aphrodisiac.
- Snuff Film: What Vukmir is making.
- The Tooth Hurts: A woman has her teeth ripped out, and is forced to perform fellatio until she asphyxiates.
- Torture Porn: In spades! The film includes scenes such as someone having their teeth removed and then being suffocated to death via oral sex, someone else being decapitated while they're being sexually penetrated, a young kid being raped by their parents, and, most infamously, "newborn porn".
- Training Montage: Miloš engages in one to prepare for the film.
- Violence is the Only Option: For Miloš, the only to put down Vukmir and his henchmen for good is to kill them all.
- White Mask of Doom: Marko wears one and he's one of Vukmir's henchmen.
- Would Hurt a Child: Vukmir, in order to make his "perfect" art film, would manipulate someone into sodomizing their own child. He also gets Raša to rape an infant. And That's Terrible!
- ...The Aristocrats!
