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Duffy pens emotional letter to Netflix over Polish hit 365 Days for ‘glamourising sex trafficking’

Pierra WillixThe West Australian
Duffy penned the emotional letter citing her own horrific experience.
Camera IconDuffy penned the emotional letter citing her own horrific experience. Credit: Unknown/Instagram

Welsh singer Duffy has penned an emotional letter to the head of Netflix claiming a film on the streaming service glamorises sex trafficking.

In an open letter to the streaming giants’ chief executive Reed Hastings, the 36-year-old said the movie 365 Days glamourised “the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape”.

Produced in Poland, the movie is based on a novel by Blanka Lipinska and tells the erotic tale of a Sicilian mobster who kidnaps a young woman, forcing her into various sexual acts while giving her “365 days to fall in love with him.”

Massimo kidnaps Laura and gives her 365 days to fall in love with him.
Camera IconMassimo kidnaps Laura and gives her 365 days to fall in love with him. Credit: Netflix/Supplied

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“This should not be anyone’s idea of entertainment, nor should it be described as such, or be commercialised in this manner,” the singer wrote.

“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.”

Duffy — whose real name is Aimee Anne Duffy — rose to fame in 2008 with her hit Mercy, that went to number one in 12 countries, before her debut album Rockferry became one of the world’s bestselling of that year.

Earlier this year she revealed she had been subject to a terrifying rape and four-week-long kidnapping ordeal.

Netflix Founder and CEO Reed Hastings.
Camera IconNetflix Founder and CEO Reed Hastings. Credit: Manu Fernandez/AP

She said it was “irresponsible” for Netflix to have broadcast the film, which she said treated the serious crimes as “erotic entertainment”.

“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.”

The film has been consistently ranked as one of the most watched offerings on Netflix since it was released in Australia earlier this month but it currently holds a dismal 0 per cent rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

Variety described it as a “thoroughly terrible, politically objectionable, occasionally hilarious Polish hump-a-thon” that was a “highly questionable take on Beauty and the Beast, which manages to be even more regressive than the fairytale”.

In her letter, Duffy requested the streaming service “right this wrong” and turn their attention 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.”

An estimated 25 million people are currently trafficked around the world, 80 per cent of whom are women and girls — with 50 per cent thought to be underage.

“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,” she said.

“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’.

“When we know better, let us do better.”

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