Elles (2011)

On her latest assignment, a journalist for Elle immerses herself in a prostitution ring run by university students.

Director:

Malgorzata Szumowska

Writers:

Tine Byrckel, Malgorzata Szumowska

Stars:

Juliette Binoche, Anaïs Demoustier, Joanna Kulig

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Juliette Binoche	...	Anne
Anaïs Demoustier	...	Charlotte
Joanna Kulig	...	Alicja
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing	...	Patrick
Krystyna Janda	...	La mère d'Anne
Andrzej Chyra	...	Le client sadique
Ali Marhyar	...	Saïd
Jean-Marie Binoche	...	Le père d'Anne
François Civil	...	Florent
Pablo Beugnet	...	Stéphane
Valérie Dréville	...	La mère de Charlotte
Jean-Louis Coulloc'h	...	Le père de Charlotte
Arthur Moncla	...	Thomas
Scali Delpeyrat	...	Charles
Laurence Ragon	...	Colette

Storyline

Anne (Juliette Binoche), a well-off, Paris-based mother of two and investigative journalist for ELLE, is writing an article about student prostitution. Her meetings with two fiercely independent young women, Alicja (Joanna Kulig) and Charlotte (Anais Demoustier), are profound and unsettling, moving her to question her most intimate convictions about money, family and sex.

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Plot Keywords:

student | journalist | prostitution | sex | fellatio | 

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Taglines:

The world's oldest profession still has its secrets.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for explicit sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

France Poland Germany

Language:

French English Polish

Release Date:

1 February 2012 (France)

Also Known As:

Sponsoring

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

€4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$24,286 (USA) (27 April 2012)

Gross:

$157,427 (USA) (7 September 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Slot Machine, Zentropa International Poland, Zentropa International Köln

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Gloria RV 589 - 1. Gloria in excelsis Deo"
Written by Antonio Vivaldi

User Reviews

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 aspect of demi-monde living, in this case prostitution, and finds herself being caught up in its irresistible fascination and reconsidering how she views her own identity. Did the filmmakers really think that there was something here that an audience hadn't seen before? With minor variations it's been done with murder, mental illness, gambling and drug addiction -- a half-dozen such films come to mind easily -- not to mention alternate lifestyles that may not be wrong in themselves but are nonetheless labeled "fringe-dwelling," so what exactly is new here?

Juliette's character says she doesn't drink, but suddenly relents and shortly afterward is drinking everyone else under the table. Someone at the production end apparently just assumed that he/she understood the teatotaler's mindset and had the character flip abruptly on a moral resolve of this magnitude. If, rather, the character is a recovering problem drinker or even alcoholic, should not this little character detail have taken priority in what's really wrong with her life?

Fantasy sequence where main character imagines herself surrounded by all the male customers described by the prostitutes she interviewed is blatant and way too concrete.

One could call the film character-driven perhaps: that these actors in these roles seem to have plausibility in being family and/or forming friendships. If the film were genuinely about something the audience needed to see then these would be the actors we'd like to hire.