Rent Permissive (1970)

Surprisingly dark and murky ... - Permissive review by NP

Ah, the Seventies. Made at the dawn of the decade where peace and love made way for glam rock, ‘Permissive’ is a (presumably) deliberately turgid affair. Featuring the character of Suzy (Maggie Stride), the story charts her rapid transition from a shy, duffel-coat-sporting girl to a sexually wiling rock chick every bit as hardened and dowdy as those around her.

Filmed in that very bleak Seventies graininess, often in rainy wintery locations, Lindsay Shonteff’s occasionally inspired direction features real-life prog-rock band Forever More in a very unglamorous lifestyle that nonetheless inspires hordes of groupies to travel with them. The manager is a supercilious brutish bully; the rest of the band is clearly played by non-actors whose dialogue is frequently blotted out by the soundtrack. It all seems a decision to portray just about everyone as bored and horny and the lifestyle as passionless but relentless. Only Pogo (Robert Daubigney) seems to provide Suzy with any attention, and his fate determines a darker path for her story and that of her friend Fiona (Gay Singleton).

Forever More is more club band than stadium rockers and the groupies are often a bitchy, possessive lot, the lazily passed around joints doing little to mellow their cattiness. Travelling on the open road certainly has its appeal, but none of them seems to be enjoying it very much. Peace and love seem in short supply here, but ‘Permissive’ is nevertheless a very interesting snapshot into a lifestyle belying the perceived accompanying glamour. My score is 7 out of 10.