L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close)

2011 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama

37
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 84% · 31 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 63% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 8728 8.7K

paris, france brothel eroticism sexual fantasy sexual humiliation prostitution

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Plot summary

The dawn of the 20th century: L’Apollonide, a luxurious and traditional brothel in Paris, is living its last days. In this closed world, where some men fall in love and others become viciously harmful, the women share their secrets, their fears, their joys and their pains.

Director

Bertrand Bonello Photo
Bertrand Bonello

Top cast

Guillaume Verdier Photo
Guillaume Verdier as
Judith Lou Lévy Photo
Judith Lou Lévy as (as Judith Lou Levy)
Pauline Jacquard Photo
Pauline Jacquard as
Céline Sallette Photo
Céline Sallette as Clotilde
720p.BLU
1.13 GB
1280*688
French 2.0
Not Rated
Subtitles
24 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 55

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 7 / 10

Though utterly depressing pretty much from start to

Though utterly depressing pretty much from start to finish, this is still a compelling film to watch as we follow a group of girls who are caught up in the most vicious of circles. They all work for "Madame Marie-France" (Noémie Lvovsky) in her slightly upmarket, but now fairly jaded, brothel. It's not just a "knocking shop" - the girls are expected to entertain their guests, to chat, sip Champagne and indulge their paymasters in anything they want. It's a dangerous way of life for these women. They are mired in debt - a debt their hostess ensures never shrinks, how ever much they earn. Some of their clients are benign, even generous - but most are there to treat them as disposable commodities. There's no star as such, each actor has a moment in the sun as we deal with abortion, addiction, violence and even the odd rather naive degree of optimism as "Clotilde" (Céline Sallette), "Julie" (Jasmine Trinca" and "Samira" (Hafsia Herzi) show us just what slavery with gossamer chains looks like. The pace might be a little slow at times, it is prone to a little repetition and the constant stream of (exclusively female) nudity does start to lose it's potency and look a little gratuitous after about an hour; but as a plausible observation of the hopeful amidst hopelessness at a time and in a city where nobody cared much for their plight, this is an engaging story that cleverly mixes up it's narrative with some poignant dialogue and strong performances.
Reviewed by

Reviewed by srjphorton-76755 8 / 10

Brothel in Paris in the early 1900s

If you don't speak French it's somewhat difficult to follow the subtitles, but once you get the hang of it, of course it becomes easier as It usually does with foreign films.

I think this is a pretty realistic portrayal of what it would be like to work in a somewhat up-scale brothel in Paris at this time.

Of course the prostitutes that work there, work there out of need and not because they enjoy this line of work. In fact they get their emotional needs met from each other. Definitely not from the men who buy them for their pleasure.

Overall I think the film was quite well done and showed the complexities of such an environment at this time in history in Paris France.

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