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 film festivals and was nominated for the Robert Award (Danish equivalent to the Oscar) for best movie.
Provides examples of:
- Badass Preacher: August, while on his quest for revenge, at one point takes 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. 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 for looking after Christina and feels guilty 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 turns out to contain the address of Charlie's mansion.
- Downer Ending: Mia is killed in the explosion that destroys Charlie's mansion and August presumably succumbs to his wounds not long after. Charlie himself wasn't in the mansion and is still alive in the end.
- 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 molesting Mia, he has Mia hit him in the aforementioned spot with a crowbar.
- He Who Fights Monsters: August.
- Idiot Ball: Seriously, if only August had planted the bomb inside something else instead Mia's plushy rabbit, Mia wouldn't have been caught in the explosion and died. Of course, August's obsession with vengeance may have clouded his common sense.
- Jailbait Taboo: When their landlord threatened to kick them out, the still below the age of consent Christina seduced him while her boyfriend filmed them with August's camera to blackmail him.
- Karma Houdini: August never succeeds in killing Charlie, the person who brought his sister into the porn industry.
- 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.
- Pet the Dog: Charlie has Christina moved out of her porn shrine crypt and has her buried with August and Mia in the end.
- Police Are Useless: The people working at the porn industry try to report August to the police when he threatens them. But they hardly did anything to protect them, considering their line of work, forcing them to take matters into their own hands.
- P.O.V. Cam: The live-action flashbacks are this, filmed by a younger August.
- R-Rated Opening
- Soundtrack Dissonance: During the below example, the song "No Regrets" by the French singer Édith Piaf plays.
- Stuff Blowing Up: August's quest to destroy all of the pornographic images of his dead sister is basically a montage of this.
- There Are No Therapists: Apparently. It never occurs to August that he could benefit from grief counseling, or that a therapist might be able to help Mia cope with all that she's been through. On the other hand, it might have put a damper on the vigilante justice vibe. Why take an emotionally, physically, and sexually abused girl to therapy when you can help her beat her molester with a crowbar?
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Mia has very disturbing tendencies due to having grown up around her porn star mother.
- The Unreveal: 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.
- And to be fair, August has done much worse...
- Would Hurt a Child: During one flashback, a broken-down Christina threatened to kill baby Mia if August doesn't stay out of her business.
