• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:January 30, 2022

Heading South

Charlotte Rampling and MĂ©nothy Cesar. Photo: Shadow Distribution

Some time during “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s regime in Haiti, three North American women (Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Louise Portal) bask in the sun and vie for the attention of an attractive, black, young man (Ménothy Cesar). A look at a phenomenon that is rarely taken seriously – women as sex tourists. Director Laurent Cantet addresses a variety of issues and makes everything gel; the reality of life in Haiti at the time, the circumstances that leave the “male companions” with very few choices… but also the motivations of the tourists. Rampling and Young in particular are excellent as vulnerable women looking for a young body to warm their beds.

2005-Canada-France. 108 min. Color. Produced by Caroline Benjo, David Reckziegel, Carole Scotta. Directed by Laurent Cantet. Screenplay: Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo. Short Stories: Dany Laferriére. Cast: Charlotte Rampling (Ellen), Karen Young (Brenda), Louise Portal (Sue), Ménothy Cesar, Lys Ambroise, Jackenson Pierre Olmo Diaz.

Trivia: Original title: Vers le sud.

Last word: “In the beginning, there was a trip to Port-au-Prince. I experienced something wonderful in coming face-to-face with a country where one senses the art of living, a force, a sensuality and a very rich culture, and above all a revolt against a level of poverty which one witnesses in very few other places and a violence which we feel is always ready to break out. Very quickly, I had the desire, not to do this particular film since I hadn’t yet read Dany Laferrière, but a film dealing with the place of tourists in such an impoverished country. The difficulty I had in finding my place there made me reflect on other personal experiences and which helped enlarge a piece that was more political that it first appears.” (Cantet, Cineuropa)

 

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