Elles (2011)

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

Director:

Malgorzata Szumowska (as Malgoska Szumowska)

Writers:

Tine Byrckel, Malgorzata Szumowska (as Malgoska 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'Alicja
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 | sex | f rated | see through panties | white panties | 

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Taglines:

The world's oldest profession still has its secrets.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actress Emma Watson's favorite film of 2011. [Indiewire, Nov.21, 2011]

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Soundtracks

Solomon
Composed by George Frideric Handel (as George Frideric Händel)

User Reviews

OK French "social problem" movie, but perhaps a little exploitative and hypocritical

This movie, like another recent French movie "Student Services", exposes the apparent current social problem of impoverished Parisian female university students resorting to prostitution. In America movies like this are generally preachy and alarmist and usually relegated to the Lifetime network where they're viewed mostly by bored housewives. I'm not exactly sure WHO these French movies are aimed at though, and they seem a little hypocritical. If you REALLY want to de-glamorize co-ed prostitution should you show quite so many scenes of impossibly attractive French actresses like Deborah Francois (in "Student Services") or Anais Demoustier (in this) having hot, naked, kinky sex? Women might appreciate the social message here, but most men will find it a little hard to concentrate on the message what with all the blood flowing from their brains to their boners. Even the middle-age female protagonist of this movie, a journalist played by Juliette Binoche, is so turned on by audiotapes of the Demnoustrier character's sex sessions that at one point she has to go in the bathroom and pleasure herself. She becomes so obsessed with her "expose" that she neglects her husband and children. She's definitely a strange, and not particularly likable, character.

The movie is also surprisingly kinky. Demoustier's prostitute character has wine bottle inserted in her butt by a sadistic client. Another Polish prostitute has her large breasts urinated on. These scenes aren't graphic, of course, but the fact that they're included at all--combined with a rather muddled moral message--definitely tends to move this toward lurid exploitation.

Binoche is not very good in this, but it might be the character she's saddled with. Demoustier is both sexy and adorable, but doesn't have much of a role, and her character pretty much disappears after the assault with the wine bottle. I didn't dislike this movie, but I prefer the similar "Student Services". It too seems a little at odds with itself message-wise, but it gives the major role to its sympathetic prostitute character. And it's not QUITE so exploitative and hypocritical.

Details

Official Sites:

Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite Official Facebook

Country:

France Poland Germany

Language:

French English Polish

Release Date:

1 February 2012 (France)

Also Known As:

Elles

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

EUR4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,286, 29 April 2012

Gross USA:

$157,508

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,822,241

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