Filles de joie

In the streaming rain, three women are burying a body. They must be Axelle, Conso and Dominic, three prostitutes who work in a brothel just over the Belgian border. But who are they burying in this opening scene of Filles de joie? It could be pretty much any of the male characters in the film – the nasty boyfriend, the manipulative ex, the teenage boy who makes lewd remarks about them every day or that geriatric client, accidentally finished off by a heart attack. In Filles de joie ('working girls'), directors Frédéric Fonteyne and Anne Paulicevich switch cleverly back and forth between the perspectives of the different girls, giving insights into their lives as they make jokes about their clients while also suffering from prejudice and sexism. Thanks to vivacious acting from Sara Forestier, Annabelle Lengronne and Noémie Lvovsky, this is principally a story of female solidarity. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)