Le donne al balcone

A women's film, which is about woman and for women... And men too anyway... Three fulfilling young friends settled in the south of France to share pleasant moments in the carefree freedom will be confronted with unexpected adventures. A film with a very special tone directed by Noémie Merlant that never ceases to amaze us. It is a subtle mix of funny/gore, tragicomic absurd and offbeat scenes shot «amateur» with saccades and instability. These girls appear to be both naive and strong-willed in their actions. The script has the merit of originality. It's not so much the story that stands out, but the way in which the director exploits the potential of her actresses to soften the atrocity. In short, we spend a pleasant moment of cinema without dieting.

Saw this at the Ghent filmfestival 2024. Lots of nice and intriguing ideas. However, even so many annoying elements turn this movie into a not so perfect experience. The controversial reviews I've read, are understandable and a logical result. One of the annoying things is that I have a vague idea that the story tries to educate us how to interact with women, when they say No it means No, but we already got that and needs no introduction. Other annoying examples are that the three female protagonists act unorderly and counter productively, while trying to remove the traces of a crime, hopefully not intended to expose that as typically feminine.

All these annoying parts overshadow the serious moments in this movie. As a seasoned Horror-lover, I do not object to the blood, nor the screaming, nor the severed body parts (and dangerous hardware to make that so). Naked bodies, half or fully undressed, are no problem either. Bear in mind that we see lots of nudity in various stages of undressment (is that a word??), in house as well as in plein public.

It is all ornamentation for me, not contributing much, alas hiding the good parts of the movie, the very original plot and the perfect acting of the main protagonists. Most of the characters appearing in this movie, are a bit vague in what they do and who they are. The only people clearly outlined are the couple in the beginning, where a man complains against his wife, whereafter she takes drastic action, later telling that her husband stumbled and fell into a shovel. We must wait until the end to see that the police accompany her handcuffed, most probably not fully believing the explanation for her dead husband. This story is only a side dish, however.

The main course of the movie is the interaction between three women on one side of the street with a good-looking man on the other side. Contrary to the straightforward story with above couple and the deadly shovel, it is impossible to even offer a suggestion for the many complications that result from the three ladies visiting the opposite apartment. One of the women stays with him, probably awaiting a happy sleepover, but the rest of the story is completely different, and unexpected as well as unprecedented. Bloody remains must be dealt with, not an everyday task for people like you and me, unexperienced in crime. And they must cope with concerned neighbors suspecting something is wrong. And on top of all that, ghostly figures start to appear, not visible for everyone so extra complicated. Just a few hints I can give you, to say this story is very unusual, offering very original plot elements, and giving us unpredictable turns of events.

All in all, lots of original ideas, some intriguing even. But some negative elements, maybe only negative for me and me alone, turn this movie into a halfway success. It is not a traditional horror that is built on atmosphere nor on eerie situations. There is blood, there are severed body parts, and there are ghost figures, but it nevertheless will turn into a different kind of horror, where there is room for humor as well.

Three very different twenty / thirty something girls - an actress (Élise), a writer (Nicole) and webcam model (Ruby) - try to chill in their Marseilles flats and their balconies during a heatwave. Attracted to the man in the flat across the road they go over for drinks. One stays over and the next day she is found hysterical and covered in blood. The three return to the man's flat to find the man impaled and missing part of his genitals - they determine to cover things up.

Apparently a feminist dark comedy, the amusing elements soon fade morphing into a rather scattergun, somewhat surreal tale of violence to women by rather stereotypical unpleasant men and its impact including Nicole seeing the ghosts of those killed. It's darkly humorous in places but because the characters of the leads never really develop and because every feller here is a complete twerp, it's hard to entirely care too much, sweet though they are. Ultimately different, stylish and with lots of ideas some of which are quite inspired but most just don't really land. - certainly art for art's sake.

Thematically (and I suspect, deliberately) this is all over the map in terms of its inspirations and borrowings from a wild variety of genres. As such, one just has to "go with it" if it's your kind of thing.

I must say though that, for me, too many of the scenes felt familiar from other films (at one point it felt like a direct homage to Almodovar, for example), although Merlant the actor demonstrates admirable commitment to her debut directing project.

There's a serious feminist message here but, given the total lack of sympathetic male characters, it's hardly the most balanced film - I suspect allowing any borderline cases to say to themselves "well, I'm nothing like *that* guy..." rather than perhaps take on board the need to change behaviour somewhat.

Quite fun in parts, and worth a look, but less amusing than I was expecting.

... in here or out there? Why not both? A balcony is there for a reason is it not? Well no pun intended - while this is about women on balconies ... this is about way more actually. About feminism - now if that word has a negative connotation in your mind/head, hold on for a second. Don't let that be in the way of enjoying the movie - or rather diving into the experience of the movie.

Because this is quite complicated - it is about so many things. And they are not afraid to show themselves. Physically and mentally speaking of course. There is a lot of nudity, but also a lot craziness. Noemie who also stars in this made her first film and it really is bold! She is a force to be reckoned with - the movie may go to many different places and has different characters (who are complex in and of themselves), but this tells us to listen - to show empathy ... and understanding ... otherwise things may go south quickly and no one wants that.

And a bit of insight to ones own actions ... admitting to wrongdoing, does not only help the victims (those harmed), but also yourself ... everyone can move on. Not entertaining per se then ... but really important, as a message, as voice and as a movie.