House of Pleasures (2011)

79% of critics liked it
(24 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(1,075 ratings)

In this lush, atmospheric look at the final days of an elegant, turn-of-the-century brothel, we go inside the cloistered walls of L'Apollonide to meet the Madam (Noemie Lvovsky), her elite clientele, and some dozen "girls" - veterans and newcomers, romantics and cynics, schemers and innocents.… More In this lush, atmospheric look at the final days of an elegant, turn-of-the-century brothel, we go inside the cloistered walls of L'Apollonide to meet the Madam (Noemie Lvovsky), her elite clientele, and some dozen "girls" - veterans and newcomers, romantics and cynics, schemers and innocents. Upending the period drama with split screens, time shifts and a modern soundtrack, this is a provocative and beautiful film about the world's oldest profession - and an exploration of how the past is remembered. -- (C) Sundance Selects

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 5 min.
Directed By: Bertrand Bonello
Written By: Bertrand Bonello
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Nov 25, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Mar 13, 2012
Studio: Independent Pictures

Critic Reviews

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
It's about forcing us to think about people we never would otherwise and seeing their struggles and humanity.
Jon Frosch, The Atlantic
What gives the film its haunting pull, as well as its feminist undercurrent, is the filmmaker's palpable compassion for these women.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
No one, male or female, has any fun, but the men behave as if they do. They are all half-stupefied by the languor in which they drown.
Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader
It emphasizes setting over character and plot; and it casts a mood that's both eerie and entrancing.
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
"Pleasures" becomes as enveloping - and sometimes as awkward - as one of the L'Apollonide ladies' heaving corsets.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
The heavy candlelit chiaroscuro paints the women as mobile Renoirs, Degases and Manets.
Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine
Bertrand Bonnello's haunting, multi-layered visual tour de force gets a mediocre standard-definition release.
Siobhan Synnot, Scotsman
There's plenty of flesh on display but the stories are far from erotic.
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Bertrand Bonello's visually alluring glimpse of what prostitute's do during down time. Captivating at times, but it does go on.
Philip French, Observer [UK]
The film is superbly designed to suggest the oppressive, hypocritical haut-bourgeois decor, the obsessive eroticism that excludes real desire, and the languorous timelessness that makes one day like another.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
We watch with various degrees of either fascination or boredom as the girls go about their work wondering how long it or they will last.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Here to prove that misogyny never quite goes out of style in the cinema, French director Bertrand Bonello presents this wearisome, questionable spectacle.
David Jenkins, Little White Lies
Dazzling and deep. You'll want to go back for more.
, Film4
Bertrand Bonello's atmospheric, poetic film seduces you with all the skill and subtlety of the courtesans it depicts.
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
Seductive on the surface, steely underneath, this is an angry, fascinating, highly political film all wrapped up in costumed frilliness.
Tom Seymour, Empire Magazine
Erotically charged but overlong and untroubled by too much plotting.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... the movie drips with silk and velvet; you can very nearly smell the leather and perfume... But there's another story in the hollow eyes of the assembled courtesans, the palpable air of hopelessness that pervades this pretty, airless film.
Tom Dawson, Total Film
We're immersed in the routines and rituals of the female prostitutes, in a world smelling of "sperm and champagne".
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
Strictly for art-house fans impervious to things bizarre, offensive and indulgent.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Carlos M

A sad drama about a group of prostitutes in a Parisian brothel at the end of the 19th century. The narrative is always fluid, while the beautiful production design and cinematography explore quite efficiently the gloom and the romantic view of being a woman submissive to men and their… More
A sad drama about a group of prostitutes in a Parisian brothel at the end of the 19th century. The narrative is always fluid, while the beautiful production design and cinematography explore quite efficiently the gloom and the romantic view of being a woman submissive to men and their pleasure.
Walter M

When making a movie that argues against prostitution, it is best not to make it sound like every other dreary profession which was the central problem with Lizzie Borden's "Working Girls." Also set in an upscale brothel, "House of Pleasure," which… More
When making a movie that argues against prostitution, it is best not to make it sound like every other dreary profession which was the central problem with Lizzie Borden's "Working Girls." Also set in an upscale brothel, "House of Pleasure," which successfully turns glossy sexiness on itself, takes a more imaginative path, especially in the way it plays with time with a neat use of anachronistic music(but then "Nights of White Satin" does not really sound like a 60's song, either), repetitive dialogue and images to give the feel that time is not flowing as it should inside where it is 1899-1900 Paris. When one of the women remarks that it has been forever since they had a free day, it may be literally true. So, that as hard as the women may work, they probably will never be able to settle their debts with the Madame(Noemie Lvovsky). But that's not the worst of it, as the brothel is a place where you can only separate the sex from the medical exams by the correct invoice. So while the women have a certain freedom without their corsets, it does not apply to their movements as they forced into degrading positions like Lea(Adele Haenel) who acts like a doll. And that's not counting what happens to Madeleine(Alice Barnole) which leaves an opening that Pauline(Iliana Zabeth), who is not quite 16, applies for. And Julie's(Jasmine Trinca) nickname is Caca, so use your imagination. In fact, a lot of the women are known by nicknames which are degrading in and of themselves.
Alec B

I like that the film isn't about prostitution in the conventional pop culture sense (meaning that its not a bunch of heart of gold hookers who live in a party house). Director Bertrand Bonello is more interested in presenting the environment in a more matter of fact manner. The… More
I like that the film isn't about prostitution in the conventional pop culture sense (meaning that its not a bunch of heart of gold hookers who live in a party house). Director Bertrand Bonello is more interested in presenting the environment in a more matter of fact manner. The women talk about sexuality in the most basic terms, its not even something they are particularly interested in but they have almost nothing else to talk about. They form bonds out of necessity and its really interesting to see their complicated group dynamic play out. The worse things get, the more they unite together. Also Bonello's stylistic choices give the film a hypnotic quality thats fascinating to watch.