Though uneven, this is an interesting erotic drama in which Polish documentary filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska (who would proceed with the scalding indictment of the Catholic Church's outdated views on homosexuality and the enforced celibacy among its clergy with 2013's IN THE NAME OF) honestly attempts to shed unsensational light on the phenomenon of female students paying their tuition moonlighting as prostitutes. The movie's greatest strength lies in its refreshingly matter of fact approach to potentially scabrous sexual situations which are presented in a fairly graphic yet never gratuitous fashion.
Whenever the film focuses on the trials and tribulations of its young protagonists then, blue collar grant student Charlotte a/k/a "Lola" (the wonderfully expressive Anaïs Demoustier, currently wowing audiences worldwide in François Ozon's THE NEW GIRLFRIEND) and Polish exchange student Alicja (Joanna Kulig from Pawel Pawlikowski's THE WOMAN ON THE FIFTH), it's absolutely riveting with both actresses turning in fearless performances that go way beyond shedding their clothes. Where it goes off the rails however is in its long stretches devoted to upper middle class journalist Anne, played by the venerable Juliette Binoche, who's doing an in-depth piece for French women's magazine Elle (hence the title) on the very subject the film addresses, gaining growing awareness and self-knowledge in the process. Anne's not a terribly compelling character and that's hardly the fault of Binoche who delivers another perfectly professional performance to supplement her vast resumé. Presumably, Szumowska intended this ultimately rather dreary personage as something of an audience stand-in for her intended middle class demographic who can't possibly be so sheltered in this day and age as to know next to nothing about how the internet intervenes in people's personal (read : sexual) lives.
So we get endless scenes of Anne's being confronted by the dreariness of her idle existence, stuck in a loveless marriage with kids careening out of control due to parental indifference. The director, who has already shown such confidence in handling the superior sub-plots involving the two "test cases", manages to hit all the wrong notes when it comes to the supposed "meat" of the movie, culminating in a pair of misguided set-pieces as Binoche desperately tries to reconnect with a sexuality long buried beneath the strenuous demands of work and social relations. First there's a sad bathroom floor masturbation bit, suggested rather than explicitly shown (but pretty disheartening none the same), followed by Anne's drunken advances on her estranged husband in the wake of a disastrous dinner party for the boss and his wife. An open ending shows the family at the breakfast table, sunlight streaming through the windows, talking to one another and passing the food around, somehow suggesting that everything will be alright from now on.
The emptiness of such scenes is happily countered by the largely guilt-free sexual scenarios Charlotte and Alicja first shock and then tempt Anne with. Szumowska admirably attempts to sidestep clichés, extending to an understanding approach to their male participants, generally presented as decent human beings equally undeserving of stigmatization as the women who cater to their demands and occasionally experience pleasure in the process. A particularly clever touch is provided by Charlotte's passionate and mutually pleasurable lovemaking to a handsome young man whom we expect is her previously mentioned but as yet unseen boyfriend. When he rises from the bed to get dressed, he leaves a wad of bank notes by her pillow. When we are subsequently introduced to the "real" boyfriend with whom she's about to move in, their allegedly "superior" relationship already appears beyond repair.
From the look and feel of the movie, you would never guess this was made by a Polish director as it has that super "soigné" and slightly precious sheen that characterizes about 90 per cent of present day French cinema, easy on the eyes but wholly unadventurous. Occasionally, this will create a jarring juxtaposition such as when Alicja receives an out of the blue golden shower in one of the movie's many immaculately styled apartment settings. The music, incorporating several popular classical selections (Beethoven's 7th...again !), likewise seems designed to lull comfortably off theater patrons into a soothing sense of "salon" social awareness by offering them a glimpse from a safe distance of how the other half lives.
Whenever the film focuses on the trials and tribulations of its young protagonists then, blue collar grant student Charlotte a/k/a "Lola" (the wonderfully expressive Anaïs Demoustier, currently wowing audiences worldwide in François Ozon's THE NEW GIRLFRIEND) and Polish exchange student Alicja (Joanna Kulig from Pawel Pawlikowski's THE WOMAN ON THE FIFTH), it's absolutely riveting with both actresses turning in fearless performances that go way beyond shedding their clothes. Where it goes off the rails however is in its long stretches devoted to upper middle class journalist Anne, played by the venerable Juliette Binoche, who's doing an in-depth piece for French women's magazine Elle (hence the title) on the very subject the film addresses, gaining growing awareness and self-knowledge in the process. Anne's not a terribly compelling character and that's hardly the fault of Binoche who delivers another perfectly professional performance to supplement her vast resumé. Presumably, Szumowska intended this ultimately rather dreary personage as something of an audience stand-in for her intended middle class demographic who can't possibly be so sheltered in this day and age as to know next to nothing about how the internet intervenes in people's personal (read : sexual) lives.
So we get endless scenes of Anne's being confronted by the dreariness of her idle existence, stuck in a loveless marriage with kids careening out of control due to parental indifference. The director, who has already shown such confidence in handling the superior sub-plots involving the two "test cases", manages to hit all the wrong notes when it comes to the supposed "meat" of the movie, culminating in a pair of misguided set-pieces as Binoche desperately tries to reconnect with a sexuality long buried beneath the strenuous demands of work and social relations. First there's a sad bathroom floor masturbation bit, suggested rather than explicitly shown (but pretty disheartening none the same), followed by Anne's drunken advances on her estranged husband in the wake of a disastrous dinner party for the boss and his wife. An open ending shows the family at the breakfast table, sunlight streaming through the windows, talking to one another and passing the food around, somehow suggesting that everything will be alright from now on.
The emptiness of such scenes is happily countered by the largely guilt-free sexual scenarios Charlotte and Alicja first shock and then tempt Anne with. Szumowska admirably attempts to sidestep clichés, extending to an understanding approach to their male participants, generally presented as decent human beings equally undeserving of stigmatization as the women who cater to their demands and occasionally experience pleasure in the process. A particularly clever touch is provided by Charlotte's passionate and mutually pleasurable lovemaking to a handsome young man whom we expect is her previously mentioned but as yet unseen boyfriend. When he rises from the bed to get dressed, he leaves a wad of bank notes by her pillow. When we are subsequently introduced to the "real" boyfriend with whom she's about to move in, their allegedly "superior" relationship already appears beyond repair.
From the look and feel of the movie, you would never guess this was made by a Polish director as it has that super "soigné" and slightly precious sheen that characterizes about 90 per cent of present day French cinema, easy on the eyes but wholly unadventurous. Occasionally, this will create a jarring juxtaposition such as when Alicja receives an out of the blue golden shower in one of the movie's many immaculately styled apartment settings. The music, incorporating several popular classical selections (Beethoven's 7th...again !), likewise seems designed to lull comfortably off theater patrons into a soothing sense of "salon" social awareness by offering them a glimpse from a safe distance of how the other half lives.