Elles

Some of the sequences in Malgorzata Szumowska's film are quite difficult to view - especially the scene where one of the student prostitutes (Anaïs Demoustier) willingly allows herself to be urinated on by one of her clients, or has a champagne bottle thrust into her *. These moments are designed to emphasize the pitfalls of the *'s existence - even if both Charlotte and Alicja (Joanna Kulig) manage to make sufficient funds to support themselves in some style during their student lives. Nonetheless Szumowksa reminds us that we should not judge their decision too harshly. By contrasting their lives with that of well- to-do journalist Anna (Juliette Binoche), who is writing an article for ELLE magazine about their lives, the director suggests that in many ways the prostitutes live a superior existence. They enjoy an independence that is denied to someone like Anna, who has to spend most of her leisure time caring for a feckless husband (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) and her three children. ELLES is full of scenes where Anna is shown working alone in the kitchen, or talking on the phone to a disembodied voice. As the film closes, she is shown silently listening at a dinner party while Patrick and his friends prattle on about various subjects; in the end she grows so frustrated that she simply walks out of the house for a breath of welcome fresh air. In contrast both Charlotte and Alicja enjoy a considerable degree of independence; they exert power over their (mostly middle-aged) clients, to the extent that they can determine in advance what they will do and what they will not do. The money they earn gives them the spending power to please themselves. As the film progresses, so we see Anna becoming more and more enamored of the girls' lives. She is shown talking in the park to Charlotte; the two of them become quite close to one another, as denoted through a series of two-shots. While alone with Alicja in Alicija's apartment, Anna partakes of vodka (although claiming that she does not drink), and ends up on a passionate embrace with the younger woman. While alone in her own apartment, Anna pleasures herself in an extended scene, where Szumowska's camera focuses on her face as she gradually comes to *. Sex gives her the kind of power that she can never enjoy either at work or during her family life. In the end, however, that power proves illusory. The film ends with an extended shot of Anna sitting down to breakfast with her husband and two of her children - an image of familial normality that suggests mental as well as physical imprisonment. Although empathizing with the two girls, she can never enjoy their independence. ELLES is a thought-provoking piece, shot in deliberately low-key style. Director Szumowska achieves some striking thematic effects, most notably through the use of music that often contrasts with the emotions of the characters shown on screen. At one moment Anna is shown walking morosely about her living-room; on the soundtrack we hear the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony - a homage to death. The grandeur of the music is set against the mundaneness of Anna's life; she would love to improve it, if only she could.

Malgorzata Szumowska's Elles (2011) is a film with high artistic merit. Something that didn't agree with me as I watched the film were the rather explicit sexual scenes between the college girl prostitutes and their clients. I thought these sexually explicit scenes were purely gratuitous and added nothing to the story, and probably detracted from the artistic merit of the film. However, at the very end of the film, the sex scenes suddenly fell into place for me and I was able to understand that they were integral to the story, and did, in fact, complement the whole artistry of the film. However, the one weak aspect of the film that still doesn't agree with me is Anne's (Juliette Binoche) appearance, that of her hair and her face. For most of the film, except for the dinner party, Anne looked downright haggard. Her hair was just a mess and looked like she stuck it a clothes dryer. Her face not only was lacking make up, it appeared that they did something to her face to make it look even more pale, and even corpse-like. It was not a good look to me, and I have no idea what effect the filmmaker was going for there but it didn't work for me. Anne needn't have been "dolled up", but she didn't need that "fishmonger" look that they gave her either. The film, through a non-linear, and even fragmented narrative successfully juxtaposed the realities of a woman having to sell her body for financial survival with the woman's role in a standard domestic setting. As Anne alluded to her husband toward the end of the film, the social norms and the morality of our culture put all women in somewhat of a position to sell their sexuality for success in their lives, in one form or another. The cinematography in this film is rather stunning, and the radical editing was appropriate for the overall dramatic effect of the film. This film, for me, is one where the viewer best reserve his judgment until the film is finished. After viewing this whole film, it is easier to discern that it is more than simply the sum of its parts.

There's a fine line between art and trash, between demonstration and exploitation, between film and *, etc. As far as this charade goes, it matters not whether that line is a mile thick as ELLES is so clearly in the trash & exploitation category that it cannot even see that line - thick or thin. Nope, there is no "grey" area or overlap between artistic merit and seedy junk. The poor-deprived-misunderstood young girls we are encouraged to see are best observed as vapid, shallow unscrupulous opportunists. One, with vodka inspired rationale, is able to compromise her john pissing into her mouth by the sing-along session shared thereafter. The other, naive, stupid or both, seems genuinely shocked when danger arrives in the form of sodomy. But even more unforgiving is our heroine. Let's see, the investigator/officer/reporter goes underground and -surprise!- becomes sympathetic/understanding/intrigued/influenced by his/her underworld subjects. Nope never been done before, excepting maybe a few hundred times. Pardon my sarcasm. I tried hard to find some merit in ELLES, and I mean that sincerely. I'd have been better off just enjoying the fellatio and sadism. That's all we have here.

This movie, like another recent French movie "Student Services", exposes the apparent current social problem of impoverished Parisian female university students resorting to prostitution. In America movies like this are generally preachy and alarmist and usually relegated to the Lifetime network where they're viewed mostly by bored housewives. I'm not exactly sure WHO these French movies are aimed at though, and they seem a little hypocritical. If you REALLY want to de-glamorize co-ed prostitution should you show quite so many scenes of impossibly attractive French actresses like Deborah Francois (in "Student Services") or Anais Demoustier (in this) having hot, naked, kinky sex? Women might appreciate the social message here, but most men will find it a little hard to concentrate on the message what with all the blood flowing from their brains to their boners. Even the middle-age female protagonist of this movie, a journalist played by Juliette Binoche, is so turned on by audiotapes of the Demnoustrier character's sex sessions that at one point she has to go in the bathroom and pleasure herself. She becomes so obsessed with her "expose" that she neglects her husband and children. She's definitely a strange, and not particularly likable, character. The movie is also surprisingly kinky. Demoustier's prostitute character has wine bottle inserted in her butt by a sadistic client. Another Polish prostitute has her large breasts urinated on. These scenes aren't graphic, of course, but the fact that they're included at all--combined with a rather muddled moral message--definitely tends to move this toward lurid exploitation. Binoche is not very good in this, but it might be the character she's saddled with. Demoustier is both sexy and adorable, but doesn't have much of a role, and her character pretty much disappears after the assault with the wine bottle. I didn't dislike this movie, but I prefer the similar "Student Services". It too seems a little at odds with itself message-wise, but it gives the major role to its sympathetic prostitute character. And it's not QUITE so exploitative and hypocritical.

The movie had potential, but ultimately wasted it. Potential was for an intriguing tale of voyeurism and vicarious living of an author's/researcher's life through the lives of the people she interviews for her work, and ultimately how this affects her. In reality, the movie goes down this path, but pulls its punches and goes nowhere. For all the nudity and sex, the movie isn't that gritty, ultimately. (The sex and nudity is a bit tame, anyway). I was expecting a profound ending, but was very disappointed. There is no life changing, just voyeurism. Solid performance by Juliette Binoche in the lead role. Good support from a cast of unknowns.

In the enjoyable but ultimately silly film, a wealthy Parisian journalist interview a couple of students who are earning their way through college working as prostitutes. Expecting to pity them, she finds herself envying (and fancying) them; the film makes the point that interviewer and interviewees alike inhabit a world that is full of rich men and luxurious surroundings, but the working girls have a measure of sexual excitement and control lacking in the married life. Now I can accept that not every prostitute is drug addicted, enslaved and so on: but it's hard to believe in the romantic and glamorous way their lives are depicted. Interestingly, this is a film directed by a woman, and starring three women as well: clearly the stereotype of the high-class hooker has enduring appeal to both sexes.

We've seen similar films dealing with the subject of student prostitution, so when coming to view this, it's a tired watch. It's been all done before. The movie starts where we're further into the story, where journalist, Binoche, who carries the film in a great if bold performance, interviews two young beautiful girls, selling and indulging in sex with older men, kind of bringing much similarity, I would say to that later Art house film, Young And Beautiful, which I haven't yet seen. There are some truly hot sex scenes in this film, from our two lasses, one featuring a middle aged guy getting into Demoustier's lacey panties, and boy, does she want it. Slowly disassociating herself from her family, as well as having problems with the fridge door, Binoche immerses and loses herself into this life, becoming good friends with both girls, causing her to privately *, and give hubby something he hasn't had in a while, where the film suddenly ends. The films fault, like Binoche losing herself, the film loses it's intentions, handling of story, where the movie shallowy touches on the subject, and doesn't go into enough depth of the girl's backgrounds, like why they do it, and what really has led em to this point, where meeting mommy of one of the girls, was at least something. But the film gets more caught up in the sex between call girl and client, which is the film's real failing. This was angrily disappointing in one sense, as the end credits rolled. It's Binoche's film, though. Watch it for her, the film's only strong savior.

It's a film based around a journalist writing an article about student prostitution and her life as a housewife and it touches on the lives of two prostitutes. It's a strangely intimate story complemented by beautiful music and very erotic scenes. Miss Binoche is superb with all her usual beautiful nuances and command of the screen. It's a film about the universe of a woman's soul and it's rather compelling. I thought it was great and it lingers with you, its inconclusive and that makes you draw your own conclusions, so the film will be different for everyone. I drew we are all alone and no-one really knows us.

Faced with just the title and the name Juliet Binoche the actress is clearly the main - if not only - reason for watching this. If then the dirty-raincoat brigade read a review and note the subject matter then there is a second selling point to be noted. As it turns out both consumer groups are catered to and Binoche weighs in with another outstanding performance without breaking sweat. What is less easy to discern is a point of view; if, as we are led to believe, the number of young French girls happy to combine university seminars with hooking is on the increase, is this a good or a bad thing. Discuss. Journalist Binoche spends the entire film researching an article on the subject which will appear in Elle. She confines her research - at least as far as the film is concerned - to one-on-one interviews with just two hookers who are equally active students. Initially Binoche is inclined to view the girls' lifestyle as humiliating despite assurances from both girls that they more or less enjoy sex - both orthodox and unorthodox - with men mostly old enough to be their fathers and it is clear that it is Binoche who is more inclined to change her lifestyle in the wake of the interviews. Whilst certainly watchable it's difficult to see this one proving durable.

I was expecting Juliette Binoche to be as fabulous as she normally is, but she was the disappointment among the three female leads. To be fair, I think it was the fault of the part, rather than faults in her performance. I think the idea was that her character, the journalist, got so involved in what she was researching and writing that she forgot about her own life and family until the story was finished; but the result was that her character was just a mess. What I liked about the film was what seemed to be a much more honest and realistic portrayal of the two prostitutes than we normally see. Both were very believable. Both students, one (Anaïs Demoustier as Charlotte) in control of what she was doing, and the other (Joanna Kulig as Alicja) drinking to much and seemingly headed for disaster. Both of them liked sex; Charlotte liked the sex she had with her customers apparently just as much as she liked the sex she had with her boyfriend. You don't see that in Hollywood movies. In Hollywood movies the prostitutes never kiss and they never have orgasms, and they all hate what they're doing. In this film, Charlotte didn't hate it at all, in fact she liked it a lot; whereas Joanna said that she liked it, and seemed to like the physical sensations, but also seemed to hate the idea of what she was doing. That seemed pretty realistic to me. There were two things that struck me particularly. One was quite early on in the film, when Juliette Binoche asked Charlotte why she kept working. The answer was that the money was hard to give up. The second was from Charlotte again, and again in answer to a question from Juliette. The question was, what was the worst thing about the work, and the answer was having to tell lies all the time. Both of those things rang pretty true to me. So what it comes down to is a more realistic portrayal of prostitution than we normally get, but a rather messy movie with a rather messy central character.