ELLES
As part of our Female Filmmaker Showcase this summer, director Malgoska Szumowska, along with acclaimed actress Juliette Binoche, take an up-close look a the world's oldest profession in ELLES. A provocative exploration of female sexuality, ELLES stars the fearless Binoche as Anne, a well-off Parisian journalist investigating investigating the lives of two student prostitutes for a magazine article. This film marks the start of our series EXPLOITATION CINEMA that explores the relationship between the body and commerce.
"It's tempting to call ELLES some kind of thinking-person's sex movie, but it's more about thinking and about sex (and thinking about sex)."
-Mark Olsen, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"The sex scenes are attention-getting, but ELLES is most remarkable as a naturalistic portrait of a woman. Binoche, in one of her rawest performances."
-Mark Jenkins, NPR
"Binoche proves why she is such a world-renowned actress... As an essay on women's roles in society and cross-generational female desire, the film provides many questions with no easy answers."
-Mark Olsen, LOS ANGELES TIMES
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 sexual fears and desires. Anne must balance her profession with her family life, while confronting her own conceptions of power, sex, and morality. Warning: this film and its subject matter contains graphic images of sexuality.
Directed by Malgoska Szumowska. Rated NC-17.
France, 2012, 35mm Film, 96minutes, Color, French with English Subtitles.