flickernatic

(2013-05-11 19:12:14)

Depressingly bad, loaded with gratuitous porn.

This film is embarrassing on two levels: first because it's story lineis so weak, and second because it ends not with a bang but a whimper.Oh, and there is also the seemingly endless sequence of fleshy scenesthat serve to glorify porn and prostitution at one and the same time(the scenes include a sickening rape carried out with a bottle).The narrative appears to run something like this - A wealthy,materialistic magazine writer, trapped in a dull haute bourgeoislifestyle, sets out to investigate student prostitution. She is soonseduced by the charms of the girls and concludes that 'all men arebastards', including her boring husband, who uses her as a perfectdinner hostess in order to suck up to his boss.In a climactic scene, she walks out of the dinner party, leaving herhusband and her (vile) male guests high and dry. But lo! Does she gooff to join the free and easy (and wealthy) student prostitutes intheir care-free, hedonistic life? Er, no! In very short order shereturns to the breakfast table to serve the orange juice and muesli toher still dull, bourgeois husband and kids. Fin! To add to the (dis)pleasure, there are a number of odd sequences whichseem to have no connection to the already fragile narrative thread: thewriter visits and old man in hospital (is it her father?) and gives hima foot massage; she attempts to use a lavatory but finds she 'cannotcontinue'; she repeatedly tries to close the door of the familyrefrigerator but it won't close because an item on one of the doorshelves has become dislodged.This unenlightening and unpleasant movie is one to avoid, Ms. Binochenotwithstanding.(Viewed at The Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK, 21 April 2012)

nicthegreek

(2013-05-11 10:03:01)

Nice film

The filming was very good, I really felt that I could feel Ann'semotions. A lot of that had to do with the excellent acting. It wasalso nice to see a lot of the actors, writers, director and producer.But hands down Juliette Binoche stole the show. Great actress, and aneven better person. I would consider going to see this movie again. themain reason is that even though the topic is a serious one, and attimes the movie does get a little dark and depressing the script allowsfor some lighter moments which makes it more manageable. I reallylaughed at times and at other times I felt very sad and bad for thecharacters. This movie gives you a different perspective on the worldsoldest profession. Initially I thought that this was a documentary, butI quickly realized that it wasn't, never the less it was a very goodeffort to capture something we don't see every day and as such havedifficulty understanding.

featherstone-witty

(2013-05-10 09:32:00)

Glacially slow and depressing

Why do 'art' films have to be slow? It appears some film makers forgettheir actors' faces are many times life size and a discriminatingaudience are attentive ... like this one. When a point has been made,move on. This seems unfamiliar to this film maker. That's the firstpoint. Point two : yes, the two girls are having paid sex with marriedmen; yes, they are doing things the men's wives possibly don't care todo, but where is the love? There's a conventional assumption that paidsex is gloomy,glum and unreciprocated. Pity. Final point : There's apossible film here : three stories in parallel- each echoing andcounter pointing each other. But this didn't happen, except in asuperficial way. A serious pity.

Sindre Kaspersen

(2013-05-10 01:25:24)

"Unsentimental erotic drama..."

Polish screenwriter, producer and director Malgorzata Schumowska'sfourth feature film which she co-wrote with Danish French-basedpsychoanalyst, journalist and screenwriter Tine Byrckel andco-produced, is somewhat based on stories from real-life prostituteswhich the director met as part of her research. It premiered in theSpecial Presentations section at the 36th Toronto International FilmFestival in 2011, was screened in the Spotlight section at the 11thTribeca Film Festival in 2012, in the Panorama section at the 62ndBerlin International Film Festival in 2012 and is aPoland-France-Germany co-production which was shot in Paris, France andCologne, Germany and produced by Danish-French producer Marianne Slot.It tells the story about Anne, a journalist for the worldwide fashionmagazine Elle who lives in Paris with her husband Patrick and their twoadolescent sons Florent and Stephane. Anne is doing an article aboutfemale student prostitution and is enlightened when she meets a Frenchwoman named Charlotte and a Polish woman named Alicja who explicitlytells her about their experiences with their clients.Finely and intimately directed by Polish filmmaker MalgorzataSzumowska, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from theviewpoints of a driven reporter and two young call girls, draws asomewhat engaging portrayal of a middle-aged woman who after getting toknow and becoming intrigued by a lifestyle that is very foreign to thatof her own, begins to care more about the theme of her article than herown family. While notable for it's at times atmospheric, bleak andmostly interior milieu depictions, fine production design by productiondesigner Pauline Bourdon and cinematography by Polish cinematographerMichal Englert, this character-driven and dialog-driven independentfilm depicts a dense study of character and contains a good score byPolish composer Pawel Mykietin.This at times graphic and as intended dispassionate and unattractivestory about young women who supports their high-class lifestyles bypleasing the repulsive sexual fantasies of mostly married male clientswho are old enough to be their fathers and how their stories andperceptions of their chosen profession affects an outsider's view onthem and her own way of life, is impelled and reinforced by it'sfragmented narrative structure, subtle character development, multipleviewpoints, evasive characters and the credible acting performances byFrench actress Juliette Binoche, Polish actress Johanna Kulig, Frenchactress Anaïs Demoustier and French screenwriter, director and actorLouis-Do de Lencquesaing. This unsentimental erotic drama where thesuspense is centered on weather or not the protagonist's fascinationand empathy for the sex workers will seduce and instigate her to risklosing her family, commendably attempts to create new perspectives on atheme that has been thoroughly examined in many other fictional andnon-fictional feature films.

Lee Aequus

(2013-05-03 04:18:05)

Sexual revolution happened more than 50 years ago.

Elles is the first movie I've seen that does nothing for the convictionbehind its original premise--feminism. On the contrary; it reinforcesthe notion that women are sex objects with erotic capital, andconcludes with the lead character desperate for regression.In this fifth feature by Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, leadcharacter Anne (Juliette Binoche) ultimately conforms to gender rolesdictated by society: mother, wife, house wife, cook, journalist, bedpartner, fellatio provider.Set against picturesque Paris; we see Anne living in modern, hecticexistence with a husband and two troubled teenagers. When her familydeparts for work and school in the morning, Anne redirects her energytowards freelance journalism for Elle magazine. She is midway throughan article about young women in the sex industry and two students arebeing anonymously profiled.Here, Szumowska combines two narrative structures: interview flashbackswhere Charlotte and Alicja recount how they fell into sex work;subjective perspective as Anne receives new insights from the girls. Asthe plot unfolds, we notice a gradual change in Anne's attitude towardssexual freedom and a glaring difference emerging from her private andprofessional lives.Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) is a sweet-natured college studentstruggling to make ends meet. Unable to cope with part-time workdemanding long and irregulars hours; she is drawn to the lucrativeincome and flexible hours. Alicja(Joanna Kulig) is Polish and a newcharacter to the city; without sufficient funds from her family,securing basic food and lodging are left to her own devices.Both women are typical victims with sob stories: they fell into theindustry out of limited financial means, but emerge sexually liberatedand continue out of want. By virtue of proximity; Anne bonds withAlicja and frustrations with her own circumstances grow, culminating inneurotic epiphany during a dinner party at home.Some controversial films (Irreversible, I Stand Alone) depict graphicscenes because they are designed to enhance complexity in theirnarratives, Elles isn't one of them. Its original synopsis promiseswomen's empowerment, freedom and liberation--but aesthetic patterns sayotherwise. There are explicit imageries depicting sexual encounters byCharlotte and Alicjia executed without coherence to the emphasis onsocial-emotional variables claimed by Szumowska. Sexual revolution occurred more than fifty years ago; yet the film isset in one of the most developed cities among metropolitan states.Granted things are still plausible within the context of helplessmigrants--it speaks for the level of reality Elles operates on. Thatcharacterizations reinforce not only stereotypes, but misinformationsurrounding the "bleak and reluctant lives" of sex workers furtherdisconnects to the point of retrogression. The range of "secrets" explored in Elles are extraordinarily obvious,narrow and misdirected; honest performances are also stymied bydistasteful direction. Joseph Kosma's Les feuilles mortes (literally"The Dead Leaves")may have you humming away in irony when the creditsfinally begin to roll.cinemainterruptus.wordpress.com

Felix-28

(2013-05-02 08:56:45)

Disappointing but some redeeming features

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 inher performance. I think the idea was that her character, thejournalist, got so involved in what she was researching and writingthat she forgot about her own life and family until the story wasfinished; 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 honestand realistic portrayal of the two prostitutes than we normally see.Both were very believable. Both students, one (Anaïs Demoustier asCharlotte) in control of what she was doing, and the other (JoannaKulig as Alicja) drinking to much and seemingly headed for disaster.Both of them liked sex; Charlotte liked the sex she had with hercustomers apparently just as much as she liked the sex she had with herboyfriend. You don't see that in Hollywood movies. In Hollywood moviesthe prostitutes never kiss and they never have orgasms, and they allhate 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, andseemed to like the physical sensations, but also seemed to hate theidea of what she was doing. That seemed pretty realistic to me.There were two things that struck me particularly. One was quite earlyon in the film, when Juliette Binoche asked Charlotte why she keptworking. The answer was that the money was hard to give up.The second was from Charlotte again, and again in answer to a questionfrom Juliette. The question was, what was the worst thing about thework, 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 prostitutionthan we normally get, but a rather messy movie with a rather messycentral character.

vivelafrance59

(2013-04-30 01:58:14)

Unsettlingly bad

Perhaps, I was expecting something else but I found this filmprofoundly disconnected and disconnecting, with the main character(Binoche) being annoyingly neurotic. The film does not really question family life and values, it is just akaleidoscopic array of scenes. Binoche is surprisingly bad, at least Idid not like her at all in this role.The beauty and candor of one of the two young prostitute was the bestthing in the film, a beauty that life is meant to spoil. However, thecrudeness of the sex scenes does not achieve what was meant to, it isjust gratuitous at times.I would not recommend this pretentious film in a million years toanybody!

writers_reign

(2013-04-29 08:02:09)

Whore Is Elle

Faced with just the title and the name Juliet Binoche the actress isclearly the main - if not only - reason for watching this. If then thedirty-raincoat brigade read a review and note the subject matter thenthere is a second selling point to be noted. As it turns out bothconsumer groups are catered to and Binoche weighs in with anotheroutstanding performance without breaking sweat. What is less easy todiscern is a point of view; if, as we are led to believe, the number ofyoung French girls happy to combine university seminars with hooking ison the increase, is this a good or a bad thing. Discuss. JournalistBinoche spends the entire film researching an article on the subjectwhich will appear in Elle. She confines her research - at least as faras the film is concerned - to one-on-one interviews with just twohookers who are equally active students. Initially Binoche is inclinedto view the girls' lifestyle as humiliating despite assurances fromboth girls that they more or less enjoy sex - both orthodox andunorthodox - with men mostly old enough to be their fathers and it isclear that it is Binoche who is more inclined to change her lifestylein the wake of the interviews. Whilst certainly watchable it'sdifficult to see this one proving durable.

r-pattison

(2013-04-28 15:40:59)

Good film

I have just watched "elles" and wasn't expecting much after readingsome pretty poor reviews. However, despite its subject matter, this isnot the gratuitous sub-porn that some would have you believe. It ismore intelligent and sensitive than that. It's also far from trivial.As usual (and as most have conceded) Juliette Binoche is terrific. Hermasturbation scene reminded me of Ingrid Thulin's in The Silence.I also thought that a nice touch was the Spider-Man toy in the laundryroom, that JB removes from the basket and places on top off the washerand tumble dryer. It gets in the way, and falls back into the basket.And you can see/feel that this has probably been done so many timesbefore.I loved this film and feel it has more to offer upon repeated viewings.

Robert Armstrong

(2013-04-28 08:13:30)

I guess somebody just assumed that a French-speaking film with prostitutes in it would automatically strike the audience as artistic

The mainstream middle-class person decides to investigate some aspectof demi-monde living, in this case prostitution, and finds herselfbeing caught up in its irresistible fascination and reconsidering howshe views her own identity. Did the filmmakers really think that therewas something here that an audience hadn't seen before? With minorvariations it's been done with murder, mental illness, gambling anddrug addiction -- a half-dozen such films come to mind easily -- not tomention alternate lifestyles that may not be wrong in themselves butare nonetheless labeled "fringe-dwelling," so what exactly is new here?Juliette's character says she doesn't drink, but suddenly relents andshortly afterward is drinking everyone else under the table. Someone atthe production end apparently just assumed that he/she understood theteatotaler's mindset and had the character flip abruptly on a moralresolve of this magnitude. If, rather, the character is a recoveringproblem drinker or even alcoholic, should not this little characterdetail have taken priority in what's really wrong with her life?Fantasy sequence where main character imagines herself surrounded byall the male customers described by the prostitutes she interviewed isblatant and way too concrete.One could call the film character-driven perhaps: that these actors inthese roles seem to have plausibility in being family and/or formingfriendships. If the film were genuinely about something the audienceneeded to see then these would be the actors we'd like to hire.

stensson

(2013-04-10 03:01:38)

Erotic lifestyles

According to some reports, great many female students in Francefinanced their studies from prostitution. This film starts from thisreport. Juliette Binoche plays the journalist who interviews two ofthese girls. Many times.She tries to analyze it all from a cold professional view, but findsthat she is the one who changes and maybe also gets analyzed. The girlstell her they are abused sometimes, but Binoche is the one who takesthe biggest injuries.Interesting film about "Western morals" declining more and more in allways, since we're not interesting in sharing profits like we used to.But the film is a little cold and and analyzing, just like aprofessional journalist should be.

Ruben Mooijman

(2013-04-09 13:23:29)

Showcase for Binoche's acting talent

The star of this movie is Juliette Binoche, who plays a reporter forElle Magazine writing a story about two students earning a living ascall girls. She leads the life of a typical bourgeois woman, with ahusband and two sons, a big Parisian apartment, design kitchen andexpensive clothes. She has everything she wants. But at the same time,her life is shallow and limited. The conversations with the two girlsmake her realize that there is more to life than she thinks, and shestarts to doubt her own values and certainties. The students confront her with the relativity of the things she takesfor granted. 'Do you have a bathroom with a view?', asks the girl whohates the poor quality of life in her working class neighbourhood. 'Iguess so, I've never thought about it', answers Binoche's character.And as she says it, she realizes how lucky she is to have a life manycan only dream of. At first, she is shocked by the girls' relaxed attitude towardsprostitution. Later on, she realizes that in reality these girls areeverything she herself isn't: independent, adventurous, open minded,rebellious, ambitious. Binoche is perfect in the way she expresses thedoubts and confusion of her character. 'Elles' is a showcase forBinoche's acting talent. Polish director Szumowska does a nice job by switching from the girls'sexual encounters with their clients to Binoche's daily routine ofmaking breakfast, cooking dinner and washing clothes. The contrastsbetween the scenes accentuate the difference in lifestyle of thecharacters.

rogerdarlington

(2013-03-16 15:52:53)

Binoche the only reason to see this disappointing film

Although directed and co-written by a Polish woman (MalgorzataSzumowska), this French-language film has so many of the ingredientsthat we associate with Gallic art house movies: it is slow andponderous, the narrative is fractured, there is smoking, drinking, andeating, there is sex but much of it is sordid or sad or sadistic, thereare scenes which are simply inexplicable, and the conclusion is utterlyunresolved and even senseless.Juliette Binoche plays Anne, a journalist with "Elle" researching anarticle on how students fund their education through prostitution.Apparently she only interviews - repeatedly - two students: the Frenchgirl Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) and the Polish girl Alicja (JoannaKulig). Neither hooker seems as unsettled by the lifestyle she haschosen as Anne appears unbalanced by the interviews. It is all ratherdisjointed and unsatisfactory and the only reason for seeing the filmis the wonderful work of the ever-impressive Binoche.

086 jpm

(2013-03-16 01:01:07)

Intimate and close but superb.

It's a film based around a journalist writing an article about studentprostitution and her life as a housewife and it touches on the lives oftwo prostitutes. It's a strangely intimate story complemented bybeautiful music and very erotic scenes. Miss Binoche is superb with allher usual beautiful nuances and command of the screen. It's a film about the universe of a woman's soul and it's rathercompelling. I thought it was great and it lingers with you, itsinconclusive and that makes you draw your own conclusions, so the filmwill be different for everyone. I drew we are all alone and no-onereally knows us.