Elles [Blu-ray]

(3.5 stars) Sensual, natural and entertaining!
From Polish filmmaker/screenwriter Malgorzata Szumowska ("Stranger", "Happy Man") and co-writer Tine Byrckel comes a film about self-reflection in "Elles".

Starring actress Juliette Binoche ("The English Patient", "Three Colors: Blue", "Cache") and young talents Anais Demoustier ("Therese Desqueyroux", "Last Winter") and Joanna Kulig ("The Woman in the Fifth"), "Elles" was released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Kino Lorber.

VIDEO:

"Elles" is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen). While watching this film, there was something beautiful about the Michael Englert's cinematography. From scenes showcasing the women outside of their patio and you can see the buildings and scenery around them, for me it was the juxtaposition of beautiful images through Anne's home. From her cooking food to wearing her silk pajamas, there was this look of beauty that was captured on camera. Almost heavenly to describe the living conditions of...

Should be titled "Demise of a Marriage"
"Elles" (2011 release from France; 96 min.) brings two parallel stories. In the first one, we meet Anne (played by Juliette Binoche), a reporter for the renowed French fashion and lifestyle magazine "Elle". Anne is writing an article on escort services provided by young women at university in Paris. The article focues on two such women: there is the timid Charlotte (played by Anais Demoustier), and there is also the more brash Alicja (played by Joanna Kulig), a Polish student who has emigrated to Paris for her studies. The second story line centers around Anne's family: her husband and her two sons. Everyone in the family seems to be in their own little world and Anne feels frustrated and boxed in. The movie plays out over the course of a single day (but with flashbacks) as Anne is trying to finish her article for Elle, and is also preparing for a dinner she and her husband are hosting that evening for his boss.

Several comments: I realize that the movie is titled "Elles"...

Pointless...
Bored housewife, unappreciated by her husband etc. interviews two student prostitutes, gets intrigued and then turned-on by their seemingly more exciting, more liberated lifestyle. Lots and lots of questioning looks and smiling between the interviewer and interviewees and... that's about it. No real exploration of the realities of these girls' lives, or their clients, a couple of fairly graphic but unerotic scenes and huge amount of well worn cliches. All explored before in the equally insipid, superficial and cliched Belle de Jour. The issues it raises are interesting but, like Belle de Jour, it delivers no answers and the real question is what on earth is Juliette Binoche doing in such a boring and pointless film? A waste of her and your time.

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