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Jenny Lu’s look at the horrors of life for immigrant women in a London massage parlour is upsettingly vivid

In the wake of the financial crisis, literature graduate Tina (Teresa Daley) struggles to find work after moving to London from her native Taiwan to be with her British boyfriend, Frank (Joshua Whitehouse). As a stopgap she takes a job as a receptionist in a massage parlour, gaining first-hand insight into the horrors of the sex industry. There’s selfish mamasan Lily (Sophie Gopsill); sultry, blond-haired student Mei (Amanda Fan); and single mother Sasa (Shiang-chyi Chen), hardened by years of punishing sex work. When shy new girl Anna (Shuang Teng) turns up intending to earn quick cash to pay off a family debt, she’s totally out of her depth.

Taiwan-born, UK-based writer-director Jenny Lu’s script is functional, with leaden dialogue and plotting that tells rather than reveals. Yet the performances are painfully alive,...

A Taiwanese graduate becomes embroiled in the sex trade in Jenny Lu’s angst-ridden study of the immigrant experience

First-time feature director Jenny Lu directs this intensely felt personal drama about the immigrant experience in the UK and the accompanying state of invisibility – part survival strategy, part byproduct of prejudice and hypocrisy.

Tina, played by Teresa Daley, is a young Taiwanese arts graduate living with her British boyfriend in London, frantically sending out CVs, getting no job offers and desperately short on cash. Then she gets word that someone needs a “receptionist”, but not at the kind of hipster media company she once yearned for. Tina has to be the “receptionist” for a brothel run out of a rented suburban semi by the motherly Lily (Sophie Gopsill), which employs two cynical yet melancholy sex workers.

Writer/ director Jenny Lu lifts the lid on the seedy underworld of massage parlours and desperate working girls in her debut feature, a well intentioned, if somewhat under-baked tale of a young lady desperate to earn some cash.

For Tina (Teresa Daley) has recently graduated from university, and moved into her boyfriend’s poky flat as she sets out to find a job of her dreams.

After much searching and little luck, Tina stumbles across an advert for a phone receptionist. Figuring it’s well within her skill set, she heads over for an interview, only to discover she’s being offered a job at an illegal massage parlour, where a trio of young ladies service numerous clients a day.

As her desperation for cash increases, Tina finds herself taking the job on, keeping the truth hidden from her boyfriend while pulling in enough cash to get by (he’s...

Dire financial straits lead a young Taiwanese graduate in London to a job as a receptionist in a low-rent "massage parlor" in The Receptionist, directed by Taipei native and U.K. resident Jenny Lu. The U.K.-Taiwan co-production is the latest in a burgeoning subgenre focused on Asian women who are forced into prostitution in Europe. (Olivier Meys' Bitter Flowers is another recent offering.) Rooted in the often stark — and varying — realities of migrant workers, now common across the globe, the film is well intentioned but falls victim to many of the tropes of the "hard-luck" story, regardless of how relevant they may...

Jenny Lu’s film, which screened at Eiff last year, is joined by Korean titles The Backstreet Noir and Puzzle.

South Korean sales company Mirovision is launching a slate of new films at Filmart led by UK-Taiwan co-production The Receptionist and two Korean films: black comedy The Backstreet Noir and mystery thriller Puzzle.

The Receptionist made its international premiere last year at Edinburgh International Film Festival and won the prize for best feature film at Sochi International Film Festival & Awards.

UK-based Taiwanese director Jenny Lu made her feature debut with The Receptionist, which follows the lives of the...

Exclusive: Projects involving Damian Jones and Versailles breakout star George Blagden also pitched at Edinburgh’s first works in progress event.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (June 15-26) hosted its first works in progress event on Sunday, presenting seven British features still in production.

Films were looking for a combination of sales company representation, festival interest and final finance.

Between pitches were meetings and networking with industry representatives from Protagonist, Metrodome, Carnaby, Stray Dogs, Film4, Studiocanal, Lionsgate, Soda and Creative England.

Festival representatives attended from Tallinn Black Nights and International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Holly Daniel, Edinburgh’s head of industry and talent development, told Screen: “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while now. There’s a gap across the UK for films looking for the final piece of the puzzle…Given all our work with emerging talent already, that put us in a good position to provide that platform.”

“We are very...

Transformers star Teresa Daley stars as a receptionist in an illegal massage parlour; The Iron Lady’s Damian Jones is exec producer.

Principal photography has wrapped in London on UK-Taiwan co-production The Receptionist, the feature debut of London-based Taiwanese director Jenny Lu.

The film stars Teresa Daley (Transformers 4: Age of Extinction) alongside Chen Shiang Chyi, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress in 2014 for the film Exit, and Josh Whitehouse (Northern Soul, Alleycats).

Inspired by a true story, The Receptionist follows the lives of Taiwanese women whose dream of a better life in London but end up taking jobs in an illegal massage parlour.

Shooting began after the production received funding from the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development in Taiwan as well as a successful crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter.

The film is executive produced by BAFTA winning producer Damian Jones (The Iron Lady) and Golden Horse Award winning producer Chih-ming Huang and is...