Elles

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  • Opened April 27, 2012 (Limited)
  • 1 hr 36 min
  • NC-17 | Explicit Sexual Content
  • ELLES tells the story of Anne (Binoche), a sophisticated Parisian socialite and mother of two who works as an investigative journalist for Elle Magazine. As Anne uncovers the world of student prostitution for her latest assignment, she develops intimate friendships with her subjects, Alicja (Joanna Kulig) and Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier). The two young women finance their university studies – and their escape from poverty – by moonlighting as sex workers to bourgeois married men. When Anne begins to gain a deeper understanding of her subjects’ precarious liaisons and their motivations on both sides, she falls into a thrilling and fearsome rabbit hole of self-inquiry about her most sacred convictions regarding money, sex, family and her own identity.
    *Note: In French and Polish with English subtitles. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Juliette Binoche, Anaïs Demoustier, Joanna Kulig, Louis-Dominique de Lencquesaing, Krystyna Janda, Andrzej Chyra, Ali Marhyar, Jean-Marie Binoche
  • Director: Malgoska Szumowska
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Drama

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Fan Reviews

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ELLES

by kate.mcardle1

Isn't this Belle Du Jour with the investigative reporter aspect thrown in?...

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Critic Reviews

70
NPR
| Mark Jenkins

Yet Elles has contemporary pertinence. As the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair showed, feminism hasn't significantly mellowed France's macho culture. And sexual predation on young women from Eastern Europe remains a timely topic. Read full review

63
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
| Joe Williams

Elles is provocative company, but it leaves us feeling hustled. Read full review

63
Chicago Sun-Times
| Roger Ebert

Elles has a surprisingly deep performance in a disappointingly shallow movie. The performance, acute and brave, is by Juliette Binoche. Read full review

60
Time Out New York
| David Fear

Titillation and tentative stabs at gender studies do not a cogent cri de coeur make. It's simply a provocation that's all hopped up with nowhere to go. Read full review

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Juliette Binoche in "Elles."