Singer Duffy is pleading her case right to the top, begging Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to remove the sexually explicit film 365 Days from streaming due to its glorification of rape and sex trafficking.
First, for the uninitiated — what the eff is 365 Days?? Well, you may not have seen a ton of trailers for the controversial Polish import, but it’s quickly become known as the new Fifty Shades of Grey — or maybe the REAL Fifty Shades??
That film trilogy was decidedly less explicit and depraved than the novels it was based on, but 365 Days — starring unknowns Michele Morrone and Anna-Maria Sieklucka — really goes for it, getting as close to porn as it gets without actual sex. It’s also Netflix’s biggest movie of the summer.
Photos: Movies That DO Have Confirmed (Or Rumored) Real Sex Scenes
The little flick became a sleeper hit due to a perfect storm of factors: everyone trapped at home burned through all the more obvious A-list fare and was looking for something new, lots of anticipated movies and shows had to halt production, and — let’s face it — all the single folks stuck at home social distancing have just been getting hornier and hornier. Within days of premiering worldwide on Netflix, it became the streaming giant’s #1 movie. It already has multiple sequels planned, based on the other two books in the series by Polish author Blanka Lipińska.
So what’s the problem? There are plenty of movies out there even more sexually explicit than this one — like Gaspar Noe‘s arty, non-linear Love, which is also currently on Netflix.
The problem comes from the one thing you won’t get in porn — the plot.
365 Days is about a mobster who kidnaps a woman he’s been stalking, holding her captive for an entire year so that she’ll fall in love with him. Naturally, she eventually does fall for her hunky captor and has a lot of sex with him, in various positions filmed from many angles.
Yeah, if you thought Beauty and the Beast was problematic, this is all the worst things people accuse that story of — except with graphic sex scenes set to soft rock music.
The backlash towards the film has been no less intense than the fandom, with a more than one change.org petition asking for the film to be taken down getting thousands of signatures. The most popular, asking to “Remove 365 Days From Netflix For Glorifying Stockholm Syndrome and Abuse” has garnered over 54,000 signatures at the time of this writing.
But the most powerful plea we’ve seen came on Thursday from someone who was the victim of the same kind of kidnapping, sex trafficking, and rape depicted in the film.
Duffy opened up about her harrowing experience earlier this year, revealing she was drugged at a restaurant and abducted. In an incredibly brave public post, she wrote:
“It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and traveled to a foreign country. I can’t remember getting on the plane and came round in the back of a traveling vehicle. I was put into a hotel room and the perpetrator returned and raped me.”
It’s a truly horrific story you can read more about HERE.
Unfortunately the premise of 365 Days was just a little too familiar to the Welsh singer, who began her open letter, published in full on Deadline:
“Dear Reed,
Recently I wrote publicly about an ordeal I was subject to. I was drugged, kidnapped, trafficked and raped. I released a statement of my personal account, which you may find online in further detail on http://www.duffywords.com.”
She went on to call Netflix “irresponsible” for airing the film, writing:
“I don’t want to be in this position to have to write to you, but the virtue of my suffering obliges me to do so, because of a violent experience that I endured of the kind that you have chosen to present as ‘adult erotica’. 365 Days glamorizes the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape. This should not be anyone’s idea of entertainment, nor should it be described as such, or be commercialized in this manner.”
Duffy continued:
“I write these words (ones I cannot believe I am writing in 2020, with so much hope and progress gained in recent years), as an estimated 25 million people are currently trafficked around the world, not to mention the untold amounts of people uncounted. Please take a moment to stop and pause, and think about that number, equivalent to almost half the population of England. And of those trafficked annually, no less than 80% are women and girls, and 50% of them are minors.”
Just awful.
She then spoke about how the film was making this kind of crime seem “sexy”:
“It grieves me that Netflix provides a platform for such ‘cinema’, that eroticises kidnapping and distorts sexual violence and trafficking as a “sexy” movie. I just can’t imagine how Netflix could overlook how careless, insensitive, and dangerous this is. It has even prompted some young women, recently, to jovially ask Michele Morrone, the lead actor in the film, to kidnap them.”
She next made a very strong point about how there absolutely is a line Netflix wouldn’t cross — and how this film should firmly be on the other side of it.
“We all know Netflix would not host material glamorizing pedophilia, racism, homophobia, genocide, or any other crimes against humanity. The world would rightly rise up and scream. Tragically, victims of trafficking and kidnapping are unseen, and yet in ‘365 Days’ their suffering is made into a “erotic drama”, as described by Netflix.”
She then made her plea to remove the film:
“And so, I am compelled to speak on their behalf, and to ask you to right this wrong; to commit the resources of Netflix, and the skills of its talented film-makers, to producing and broadcasting content that portrays the truth of the harsh and desperate reality of what ‘365 Days’ has sought to turn into a work of casual entertainment.”
The Rain On Your Parade singer got personal once again, opening up:
“I calm myself to explain to you here — when I was trafficked and raped, I was lucky to come away with my life, but far too many have not been so lucky. And now I have to witness these tragedies, and my tragedy, eroticised and demeaned. Where can one turn? But to have to address you in writing.”
Addressing critics of her argument in advance, she reasoned:
“To anyone who may exclaim ‘it is just a movie’, it is not ‘just’, when it has great influence to distort a subject which is widely undiscussed, such as sex trafficking and kidnapping, by making the subject erotic. And because ‘365 Days’ has proved enormously popular, I also address this letter to viewers directly. I encourage the millions who have enjoyed the movie to reflect on the reality of kidnapping and trafficking, of force and sexual exploitation, and of an experience that is the polar opposite of the glossy fantasy depicted in ‘365 Days’.”
What can YOU do? Duffy has some suggestions:
“As we approach World day against trafficking in persons on 30th July, I encourage Netflix and everyone who has watched ‘365 Days’ to learn more about human trafficking by visiting https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html and to pledge to make a difference to organizations such as: catwinternational.org, hopeforjustice.org, polarisproject.org, antislavery.org, stopthetraffik.org, unseenuk.org, notforsalecampaign.org, ijm.org, a21.org and madeforthem.org.”
Finally, she turns once again to the people running Netflix, getting right at the heart of the matter, the pain they have caused by giving the film a platform:
“If all of you at Netflix take nothing from this open letter but these final words, I will be content. You have not realized how ‘365 Days’ has brought great hurt to those who have endured the pains and horrors that this film glamorizes, for entertainment and for dollars. What I and others who know these injustices need is the exact opposite – a narrative of truth, hope, and to be given a voice.”
She closed her letter by saying:
“When we know better, let us do better.”
Neither Reed Hastings nor Netflix have commented on the controversy, though if we had to guess, the flick is NOT going away any time soon.
Like we said, this film was an enormous, unexpected hit. There are more on the way. They don’t have to cut any $10 million checks to movie stars or celeb directors. Removing episodes of sitcoms here and there due to outcries over racially insensitive moments is easy — but losing out on a whole hit franchise? We can’t see a corporation taking a loss like that over ethical concerns.
What do YOU think of Duffy’s argument? Is she right?? Or do you still think it’s just a movie??
If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A trained staff member will provide confidential, judgment-free support as well as local resources to assist in healing, recovering and more.
[Image via NextFilm/Netflix/WENN.]
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