Juliette Binoche as the freelance journalist Anne. |
Anne is a bourgeois freelance journalist who is
writing a piece for Elle magazine on prostitution. Her research includes
interviewing two young female students, Charlotte, whose professional name is
‘Lola’ and the Polish émigré Alicja, who both use their bodies as a way to earn
money to supplement their education fees. Anne finds herself becoming
fascinated by the girl’s lifestyle and how they treat their sex work so
matter-of-factly. Anne begins to reassess her own life with its family
pressures including her eldest drug taking son Florent and her youngest son Stephane,
who would rather play computer games than go to school, coupled with her unexciting
sex life with her husband Patrick all of which comes to a ‘head’ the evening of
a dinner party with Patrick’s boss and his wife.
Anais Demoustier as the French prostitute 'Lola' |
This frank drama, beautifully photographed by Polish
cinematographer Michal Englert, is co-written and directed by Polish director
Malgorzata Szumowka, her fourth feature film to date but her first in the
French language. The movie star’s Juliette Binoche as Anne, a superb French
actress who has appeared in more than 40 feature films including award-winning movies
like Three Colour’s Blue (1993), The English Patient (1996) Chocolat (2000) and Certified
Copy (2010) The film also features the up and coming young French actress
Anais Demoustier as Charlotte with Alicja played by Polish actress Joanna
Kulig.
Alicja is played by Joanna Kulig. |
The movies carefully researched central narrative
concerns female sexuality, a women’s position in modern day society and her
freedom of choice. It posses the question does a well-to-do middle class
academic have more limits imposed upon her life than a common prostitute? Prostitution is nothing new although the
demands put upon women by a consumer society and our greed economy makes it a
far more attractive proposition of earning what is pathetically referred to as
‘easy money’. Some of the more vivid moments in the film like the wine bottle incident
and the golden shower scene appear a little to sanitized and don’t really
demonstrate the horrors involved in this very dangerous trade. Are there no
pimps in France?
No comments:
Post a Comment