Elles
Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson
Anne (Juliette Binoche) is a writing a magazine feature on two young women who are paying their way through college by working as prostitutes. It seems they see more positives than negatives, and Anne starts to consider the emotional price tag of her own life as a middle-class wife and mother, with its stresses and flawed relationships.
That’s about it for the plot, despite the disguise of a chopped-up timeline. This French film should therefore annoy me more that it does, for all its pleasant interludes of explicit sex.
But it’s a beautiful study of non-verbal communication: not in the panting and grunting but in the interviews between Anne and the students; subtle power plays in which emotions and doubts emerge and dissipate. It’s a shame, though, that all the male characters are basically dicks, one way or another.
6/10
Released February 7, 2013.
Jonathan Empson’s TV script Chrome was nominated for an AWGIE in 2010.
His recently completed historical drama-comedy feature Leonardo’s War is in circulation, and his black comedy-thriller Get Out of Here has been optioned.
He is represented by Rick Raftos Management.