Elles
Director: Malgorzata Szumowska
Country: France | Poland | Germany
Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes
The most provocative film at this year's Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals, Elles stars Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche as Anne, a well-off Parisian journalist investigating the lives of two student prostitutes for a magazine article. What begins as a routine assignment, though, quickly turns personal, as Anne is drawn into the lives of these fiercely independent young women and forced to confront her own physical needs and desires. ~ elles-movie.com
A writer is given a new perspective on her life by two women she initially imagines could not be more different than her in this drama from filmmaker Malgoska Szumowska. Anne is a wife and mother who maintains a busy schedule looking after her youngest son, who is obsessed with video games, her teenage son, who spends much of his time stoned on marijuana, and her aging father whose health is failing. Anne's husband is too preoccupied with his own career to worry about the household chores, and she has to juggle it all while keeping up with her work as a journalist. Anne is researching a magazine piece about prostitutes, and she's been conducting extensive interviews with Alicja and Charlotte, both of whom are attractive, well-adjusted women in their early twenties who have turned to sex work to support themselves. As Anne develops a greater understanding of Alicja and Charlotte's lives and work, she sees a contrast in the way the younger women have chosen a trade that, despite its reputation, affords them freedom while Anne's personal and professional life have become something of a trap. ~ Mark Deming, Allrovi
Country: France | Poland | Germany
Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes
The most provocative film at this year's Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals, Elles stars Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche as Anne, a well-off Parisian journalist investigating the lives of two student prostitutes for a magazine article. What begins as a routine assignment, though, quickly turns personal, as Anne is drawn into the lives of these fiercely independent young women and forced to confront her own physical needs and desires. ~ elles-movie.com
A writer is given a new perspective on her life by two women she initially imagines could not be more different than her in this drama from filmmaker Malgoska Szumowska. Anne is a wife and mother who maintains a busy schedule looking after her youngest son, who is obsessed with video games, her teenage son, who spends much of his time stoned on marijuana, and her aging father whose health is failing. Anne's husband is too preoccupied with his own career to worry about the household chores, and she has to juggle it all while keeping up with her work as a journalist. Anne is researching a magazine piece about prostitutes, and she's been conducting extensive interviews with Alicja and Charlotte, both of whom are attractive, well-adjusted women in their early twenties who have turned to sex work to support themselves. As Anne develops a greater understanding of Alicja and Charlotte's lives and work, she sees a contrast in the way the younger women have chosen a trade that, despite its reputation, affords them freedom while Anne's personal and professional life have become something of a trap. ~ Mark Deming, Allrovi
