Elles (English Subtitled)

I wanted to like this movie but it didnt happen, such a boring movie I didnt like it at all

Binoche Binoche Binoche

A coming of age movie for french ladies of the night and day. Not really any unique twists of plot or academy award winning performances for the best organism. But, if you havent been to Paris in the spring, summer, fall, etc., this is worth watching if you dont have anything else to do.

another amazing film‼️

Lame

Some of the sequences in Malgorzata Szumowskas film are quite difficult to view - especially the scene where one of the student prostitutes (Anaïs Demoustier) willingly allows herself to be urinated on by one of her clients, or has a champagne bottle thrust into her vagina. These moments are designed to emphasize the pitfalls of the whores existence - even if both Charlotte and Alicja (Joanna Kulig) manage to make sufficient funds to support themselves in some style during their student lives. Nonetheless Szumowksa reminds us that we should not judge their decision too harshly. By contrasting their lives with that of well-to-do journalist Anna (Juliette Binoche), who is writing an article for ELLE magazine about their lives, the director suggests that in many ways the prostitutes live a superior existence. They enjoy an independence that is denied to someone like Anna, who has to spend most of her leisure time caring for a feckless husband (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) and her three children. ELLES is full of scenes where Anna is shown working alone in the kitchen, or talking on the phone to a disembodied voice. As the film closes, she is shown silently listening at a dinner party while Patrick and his friends prattle on about various subjects; in the end she grows so frustrated that she simply walks out of the house for a breath of welcome fresh air. In contrast both Charlotte and Alicja enjoy a considerable degree of independence; they exert power over their (mostly middle-aged) clients, to the extent that they can determine in advance what they will do and what they will not do. The money they earn gives them the spending power to please themselves. As the film progresses, so we see Anna becoming more and more enamored of the girls lives. She is shown talking in the park to Charlotte; the two of them become quite close to one another, as denoted through a series of two-shots. While alone with Alicja in Alicijas apartment, Anna partakes of vodka (although claiming that she does not drink), and ends up on a passionate embrace with the younger woman. While alone in her own apartment, Anna pleasures herself in an extended scene, where Szumowskas camera focuses on her face as she gradually comes to orgasm. Sex gives her the kind of power that she can never enjoy either at work or during her family life. In the end, however, that power proves illusory. The film ends with an extended shot of Anna sitting down to breakfast with her husband and two of her children - an image of familial normality that suggests mental as well as physical imprisonment. Although empathizing with the two girls, she can never enjoy their independence. ELLES is a thought-provoking piece, shot in deliberately low-key style. Director Szumowska achieves some striking thematic effects, most notably through the use of music that often contrasts with the emotions of the characters shown on screen. At one moment Anna is shown walking morosely about her living-room; on the soundtrack we hear the second movement of Beethovens Seventh Symphony - a homage to death. The grandeur of the music is set against the mundaneness of Annas life; she would love to improve it, if only she could.

This movie presents the lives of some students that struggle to have the life they want in the middle of a wealthy society. They are presented with the options of a hard life doing waitressing or boring jobs getting a pay that does not allow them to build their life, or to render their services to men that are willing to reward them in more ways than money can do. This is a hard thing to present in front of our hard coded values. It is the difference between being exposed to landlords that want to abuse them for no pay, to live in unsafe neighbourhoods or to explore other avenues. All of this for a woman (Juliette Binoche) that feels neglected by her husband, overwhelmed by her housewife duties and at the same time producing an article for a magazine the famous Elle magazine about students that become call girls. Confronting this reality and her own boredom, frustration and sadness makes her reevaluate her life and her options. The end shows something that maybe is not what we want but many times it becomes what it is. The movie is very well acted and directed and addresses these very difficult topics in a caring way. I may disturb some people as some views may show a reality that some may not want to see.

Personal collection

Well done and I enjoyed the unpretentiousness of the characters and film. I always like the French Movies as they say it like it is.

Too pornografic.