Bertrand Bonello opens the doors of a brothel

Bertrand Bonello is the third French person to enter the Competition, with his film entitled L’Apollonide : souvenirs de la maison close (House of Tolerance), a film which explores a world on the fringe of society. This is his fifth feature film, dealing with one of the recurrent themes of his filmography: sexuality.

This is the story of twelve strong women, desirable, intelligent prostitutes, but all prisoners, not of the men who are their clients, but of the brothel keeper who treats them like slaves. Those on the outside know nothing of this house, and those who have visited it have only seen beauty and lust. They haven’t seen the misery nor the fear of death: everything is pure representation, the house is closed off from the outside world.

“A world closed off from reality can soon become a world of fiction”, explains Bertrand Bonello. The director has continued exploring fringe universes, with the sexual imprint which is a common feature of his films: directing X-rated films in Le Pornographe (The Pornographers) (2001), and transsexuality with Tiresia, in Competition at Cannes in 2003.

Bertrand Bonello shows us all the floors of this brothel, seen through the eyes of its rulers: the women. He gives life to complex characters, who are both strong and weak at the same time, sometimes rivals and sometimes giving each other support. Actresses like Hafsia Herzi (La Source des femmes (The Source) by Radu Mihaileanu) and Céline Sallette (La Stanza del Figlio (The Son’s Room) and Il caimino (The Caiman), by Nanni Moretti), play a role, alongside non-actresses. “This mixture of actresses and non-actresses was meant to create consistency, the girls had to work together”.

Men only play a very minor role in the film. “By focusing on women, the impression that they are above their clients is reinforced”. Bertrand Bonello plays with opposites from beginning to end. He has chosen modern women to incarnate prostitutes working at the beginning of the 20th century, and the original soundtrack is based on the soul music of the Sixties. This all helps to give the subject a touch of timelessness, and brings the matter of reopening brothels back into the limelight.

T.K.

L’Apollonide : souvenirs de la maison close will be projected at 11.45 a.m. and 10.30 p.m. in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
It will be shown the following day at 2 p.m., in the Salle du Soixantième.