Mubi Monday: My Sole Desire (2023)

When you make a film set largely in a strip club then you are, for better or worse, inviting comparison to a film so notorious that I don't even need to write the title here, especially for those reading this who Nomi so well already. This is a French film though, and the French can do much better with this kind of material. At least, that's what you would hope.

Louise Chevillote plays a young woman, Manon, who decides to try working at a strip club to make some decent money. She soon starts to enjoy herself, thrilled by the creativity and ability to control and manipulate the punters, helped by a colleague (Mia, played by Zita Hanrot) she starts to develop a strong connection with. Problems start to arise when it becomes clear that Mia already has a partner (played by Thimotée Robart), and when Manon starts to succumb to the seductive allure of higher earning potential from work outside the club.

Directed by Lucie Borleteau, who also worked on the story and screenplay with Clara Bourreau and Laure Giappiconi, this is a great mix of melodrama and eroticism. The lifestyle is shown in a surprisingly positive way, but it’s not completely safe and cosy. There are threats scattered around everywhere, from within and without the central group, but the way that the women deal with those threats allows viewers to see how they work together, maintain control, and grow closer as they metaphorically “circle the wagons” to ensure their safety.

Despite the obstacles and pitfalls placed in the script, the film generally feels like a positive one, in terms of both the sex work and the various ways in which the characters are motivated (some others frown while our lead keeps striving to earn more and more money, but she also does her best to help out someone she might not have any future with).

Chevillote and Hanrot are great in the lead roles, equally adept at handling the drama and the front and centre sexuality of their characters. They are always very believable, and the script allows them to be flawed without making them awful people, although I am sure some would argue that point. Robart also does well, but he’s saddled with a less interesting part to play. Everyone else works well. A handful of actresses portray other dancers in the club, each with their own style and/or problems, Pedro Casablanc runs the club with a steady and careful approach, and Sipan Mouradian is able to fall in love with our leading lady without seeming like a clueless schmuck.

A hugely satisfying experience from start to finish, My Sole Desire weaves a lot of artistry throughout what could have easily just been a sweaty and stain-covered mess of tired tropes and exploitation. Kudos to Borleteau, and all of her collaborators, for producing something far removed from that. This is, in fact, quite brilliant, and it’s just as equally about love and friendship as it is about sex and dancing.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Laurence Anyways (2012)

Although I keep forgetting to bring him up in any conversation about consistently great modern film-makers, Xavier Dolan is a young and talented individual who has crafted a number of brilliant films exploring love, sexuality, and gender. Laurence Anyways is another excellent example of his work, and another character study that is typically sensitive to the fluid and complicated nature of his leads.

Melvil Poupaud plays Laurence, someone we first meet in a relationship with a woman who goes by the name of Fred (played by Suzanne Clément). It isn’t long until Laurence has to make a confession, telling Fred that they cannot keep living a lie. Laurence wants to live life as a woman. Initially confusing his transgender nature with homosexuality, Fred pushes Laurence away and spends some time away from them. Not long though. She soon realised that she can continue to help and support someone she loves, and Laurence is going to need a lot of help and support as others take time to accept their transformed physical appearance.

Dolan is a writer-director who knows exactly how to present memorable characters who are portrayed both sympathetically and realistically. Neither Laurence nor Fred act perfectly here, with the former particularly problematic as she stops considering the lives and feelings of others while finally living as her true self, but they whirl around one another like lively electrons, sometimes bonding in a way that seems unbreakable and sometimes charging themselves up and hurling themselves away from one another. Both have to draw on reserves of courage for different reasons, and both can be admired for some of the battles they choose (although, as you might suspect, there is sometimes no choice given at all).

Poupaud and Clément are absolutely superb in the main roles, both giving performances that feel genuine and convincing at all times, no matter what is going on around them. The film stays focused on them, or at least stays focused on Laurence (anyways), but still has room for a smattering of wonderful supporting characters, whether they come in for one scene or are in and out of the movie throughout the runtime. Everyone is deserving of equal praise, but Nathalie Baye is an amusingly aloof highlight (playing Julienne, the mother of Laurence).

There’s a pleasant score by Eduardo Noya, credited as just Noia, a handful of excellent tunes on the soundtrack, and a constant feeling of energy and vitality that helps to make the lengthy runtime (168 minutes, approximately) go by without it ever feeling like a slog.

If you are new to the films of Xavier Dolan then this is as good a place to start as any, and it might even be his best work yet. But I would then recommend exploring everything that he’s done so far, especially if you appreciate this as much as I did.

9/10

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The Broken (2008)

Written and directed by Sean Ellis, The Broken is an interesting and impressive horror movie that takes a number of well-worn genre tropes and blends them into something more than the sum of its parts. It doesn't become entirely fresh and unmissable, but it deserves to be discovered by horror fans after something that doesn't feature zombies, ghosts/demons or found footage.

Lena Headey stars as Gina McVey, a radiologist who finds her life turned upside down one day when she spots someone who looks exactly like her. Exactly. As she follows the doppelganger to find out just what's going on she gets herself hurt in a bad car crash.Then things start getting stranger and stranger.

Heady does her usual good work in the lead role, and she's supported by a cast of varying quality - the great Richard Jenkins does well with his limited screentime, Melvil Poupaud is okay, as is Michelle Duncan, and Asier Newman makes a memorable impression as Daniel McVey, Gina's brother.

There are some well-signposted jump scares, placed in the movie as if the director was contractually obliged to include them, but the majority of the movie is more concerned with setting an uneasy, off-kilter, mood. Writer-director Ellis walks a nice line between the requirements (cliches) of the genre and many moments that provide some food for thought alongside the chills.

As events unfold, viewers might understandably feel slightly underwhelmed. There is at least one major plot point that many could see coming wayyyyyyy down the line and the tension builds up only to be deflated during the last 10 minutes or so. But this is not a film about individual scares or a barnstorming finale. This is a film about a journey, and that journey is an interesting one.

As the end credits rolled, I considered my rating for the movie and was initially going to settle on something that would signify it as average or just above average, but the more I thought about everything I'd just watched the more I realised I'd been quietly and consistently impressed. I don't expect everyone to enjoy it as much as I did, but I do encourage others to seek it out and give it a go.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Broken-DVD-Richard-Jenkins/dp/B001TDKJYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377005833&sr=8-1&keywords=the+broken