ELLES

Portrait

Anne is a cultivated Parisian journalist with the glossy magazine Elle. Interviewing two students who work as call-girls, she is surprised by their positive attitude to their work. The freedom enjoyed by the young women makes Anne question her own life. Just how emancipated is her relationship with her husband? Is the sex entirely voluntary? Is her sexual desire entirely separate from financial dependence? In her empathetic portraits of the three women Szumowska queries bourgeois morality and picks apart some of the clichés surrounding the “world’s oldest profession”.
DAS BESSERE LEBEN
DEU, FRA, POL 2011 / 96 min
Director: Małgorzata Szumowska
  • Screenplay: Małgorzata Szumowska,Tine Byrckel
  • Cinematographer: Michał Englert
  • Editor: Françoise Tourmen,Jacek Drosio
  • Music: Paweł Mykietyn
  • Cast: Juliette Binoche,Anaïs Demoustier,Joanna Kulig
  • Producer: Marianne Slot
  • Production Company: Slot Machine - France
  • Co-Production Company: Zentropa International - Germany,Zentropa International - Poland
  • World Sales: Zorro Film - Germany
  • Rights Holder: Memento Films International - France
Anne is a cultivated Parisian journalist with the glossy magazine Elle. Interviewing two students who work as call-girls, she is surprised by their positive attitude to their work. The freedom enjoyed by the young women makes Anne question her own life. Just how emancipated is her relationship with her husband? Is the sex entirely voluntary? Is her sexual desire entirely separate from financial dependence? In her empathetic portraits of the three women Szumowska queries bourgeois morality and picks apart some of the clichés surrounding the “world’s oldest profession”.
  • Screenplay: Małgorzata Szumowska,Tine Byrckel
  • Cinematographer: Michał Englert
  • Editor: Françoise Tourmen,Jacek Drosio
  • Music: Paweł Mykietyn
  • Cast: Juliette Binoche,Anaïs Demoustier,Joanna Kulig
  • Producer: Marianne Slot
  • Production Company: Slot Machine - France
  • Co-Production Company: Zentropa International - Germany,Zentropa International - Poland
  • World Sales: Zorro Film - Germany
  • Rights Holder: Memento Films International - France