An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Laurent Cantet, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it was the first movie I saw dealing with female sex tourism and, only therefore, it made this movie so intriguing. The first thing I learned is that, even though I thought it was something fairly recent, it actually exists since much longer than I thought, as it was depicted in this movie. Coming back on the movie itself, I have to admit that the first scene was rather disorienting but it turned out to be a very efficient way to show how desperate the people living in such countries are. Eventually, nobody there (man and women) decides to go into the prostitution for fun or because they are some kind of moral deviants, 99% of the time they choose this path because it might be the only option they have. So, it definitely had some some potential but I’m afraid Cantet never had a good grip on the subject. Eventually, you might wonder if a middle-aged white guy was really the best choice to tell the stories of various rich middle-aged white women looking for sex and affection with some much younger black dudes. As a result, neither group was properly developed, especially the native folks living in Haïti. At some point, you did get to hear Albert’s thoughts but, to be honest, they barely had anything to do with the problematic displayed and, afterwards, well, it’s anyone’s guess what the folk out there might have felt or think about all this. Obviously, they did spend more time on these women but the end-result was still hardly satisfying though. It’s a combination between the facts that Cantet apparently didn’t know how to handle these characters and the fact that, beside Charlotte Rampling who was fine as usual, the actresses involved were rather weak. It was also a mistake to have them involved in some love triangle. Anyway, to conclude, even though it seemed to be a failed opportunity, since it’s the only movie I know dealing with this subject, it was still an interesting watch and I think it is worth a look.