When Truth Becomes Uncomfortable: The Bold Honesty of Elles
When Elles was released in 2011, it was not a film that asked for comfort. It was not trying to entertain but to challenge and stir something quietly dissonant in its audience. Directed by Malgorzata Szumowska, the French-Polish drama featured Juliette Binoche as Anne, a Parisian journalist investigating the lives of two university students who work as escorts to pay for their studies. It sounded, on paper, like any other European art-house film on sexuality and morality. However, on screen, Elles was something else entirely: a bold and uncompromising exploration of femininity, repression, and the delicate line between curiosity and complicity.
A Mirror That Reflects Too Closely
The film starts with Anne getting ready for a glossy magazine article. Her home life is stable, but monotonous: a husband who is busy all the time, two teenage sons who barely speak and are lost in their own worlds, and a diffuse fatigue which feels deeply lived-in. When Anne interviews the two young women, Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) and Alicja (Joanna Kulig), their contrasting stories begin to chip away at her assumptions.
Charlotte considered sex work simply a transactional necessity because she is quiet and introspective. This means that Charlotte is more calm and resigned than most. Conversely, Alicja is unabashedly erotic and powerful, and she enjoys the attention and cash that her work brings, even when it isolates her. The more Anne listens, the more the lines blur between her professional interest and personal awakening.
And, of course, the film does not moralize. Instead, it focuses on Anne as she experiences the painful conflict of the modern viewer – young women, whom she thought she should pity, are potentially more liberated than she is. By the conclusion, Elles is not concerned with prostitution. It is concerned with how women perceive themselves through the prisms of work, desire, and self-esteem.
Juliette Binoche: Breaking Her Own Barriers
Juliette Binoche had, and still has, global stardom, and recognition for The English Patient, Blue, and Chocolat, so she could have taken safer roles. Instead, she has chosen more challenging cinema. In Elles, she peeled off all the odd cinematic layers of glamour.
She explained in interviews that the psychological exposure was much more difficult than the nudity and the intimate scenes. “Confronting discomfort” was an integral part of playing the role. “Anne is a woman questioning everything she thought she knew — her marriage, her motherhood, her identity,” she explained. It was not about playing the part because of the sexuality involved.
To prepare, Binoche shadowed and studied how actual journalists conducted interviews, postures, tones, and the interest they exhibited. In addition, she and Szumowska had profound conversations on the topic of modern womanhood, on the kind of freedom that is part of social expectations. Binoche was a mother off camera as well, and that same tenderness and exhaustion was brought into the character. You can see that weary and tender look in her character’s eye — so many mother’s world over can relate to that.
Joanna Kulig and Anaïs Demoustier: Youth Without Illusion
If Binoche reflected the maturity of the film, Joanna Kulig and Anaïs Demoustier gave it to the raw edge. Kulig, a Polish actress who gained international prominence later as star of Cold War, approached the role of Alicja as a character who refuses to be defined by shame. Her performance is filled with playful mischief and melancholy in which she is both in absolute control and deeply lonely.
Kulig said that some of the film’s most striking moments weren’t even in the script. Szumowska, the director, encouraged the actresses to improvise and engage with the material in an unscripted way. For example, the scene where Alicja has dinner with her older client was filmed with almost no direction. Kulig’s laughter, the subtle discomfort, and the shifting power dynamics with the man across the table were all her spontaneous invention.
Anaïs Demoustier, in contrast, played Charlotte with a careful reserve. Her silence is a reminder that not all rebellion is loud. Even off-screen, Anaïs was the embodiment of that kind of calm, and her introspection is what gave Charlotte much of her depth. The two young actresses were able to form a close bond on the set, which, ironically, mirrored their characters, who never actually meet in the story.
When the Camera Became a Confessional
Malgorzata Szumowska did not hesitate to showcase the warmth of her vision in Elles. She considered it a study of the female gaze, both from a perspective of the person behind the camera and the one in front of it. She framed each of the film’s intimate moments from Anne’s perspective. The end result is a turning of the gaze inside out. The viewers’ fascination is both curious and uncomfortable. Anne’s gaze intrigue us, and we become coparticipants in her audacity.
Szumowska utilized minimalist instinctive direction. Resting from the rapid dry runs, she built long uninterrupted takes. This allows the captured scene to inhabit an emotional moment, as the actors are able to step inside the moment themselves. The result is an even more documentary-like realism. Szumowska’s long time collaborator and partner, Michał Englert, utilized documentary techniques and realism in handheld cinematography, close to the body, natural lighting, and soft, diffuse light to create warmth in the image.
The kitchen scene, in which captured Anne after a day’s interviews, was cited as one of the toughest scenes to shoot. This is the moment she allows herself a breath, and it is a moment that one might glamorize, sensationalize, and embellish. Szumowska approached it with silence and an absence of embellishment. Binoche is described as having performed the scene as a single uninterrupted take and it was complete with emotions.The Buzz Before and After
Before its release, Elles generated significant buzz across European film festivals. Juliette Binoche’s involvement guaranteed attention, but it was the film’s subject matter that polarized early audiences. Some expected a scandalous portrayal of sex work; others hoped for feminist commentary. What they got was a blend of both — a film that refused to give easy answers.
At the Berlin International Film Festival, where Elles premiered, critics were divided. Some praised its emotional honesty and Binoche’s fearless performance; others found it too intimate, too uncomfortable. But controversy only amplified its visibility. The trailer itself — filled with provocative imagery and Binoche’s haunted expressions — sparked debates about morality, censorship, and women’s autonomy.
Commercially, the film had a modest box office run, performing strongest in France and Poland but achieving cult status among art-house audiences. In India, where the film reached limited viewers through festivals and streaming, it became a talking point among cinephiles who admired its unflinching gaze. The idea of a middle-aged woman confronting desire — rarely explored in Indian mainstream cinema — resonated deeply with audiences looking for emotional honesty over sensationalism.
Production of the film was emotionally charged. The cast, for several weeks, had discussions on a variety of topics, including the politics of female desire, and financial independence for women. On several occasions, Binoche invited Szumowska and the younger actresses for dinner, where the discussions shifted to the themes of work, relationships, and motherhood. Szumowska indicated that the themes of these conversations, unscripted as they were, gave the film many of its nuances.
The film set was designed to make the crew comfortable and at ease. Kulig made a humorous comparison, stating that filming Elles was like “therapy in costume.” Binoche’s use of humor was effective in diffusing tension on set, especially when she teased the crew and offered them chocolates.
With time, the film has only become better. More than a decade later, the film, Elles, is still as provocative and poignant as ever. The film’s strength is the ability to portray women’s silent negotiations on a daily basis. The film reveals the negotiations women undertake in their daily lives. It is a film of the quiet and of the masks that people wear. It is also a film of the quiet rebellions that lie beneath these masks.
It reaffirmed her fearlessness as a career milestone for Juliette Binoche. It was a step toward international recognition for Joanna Kulig and Anaïs Demoustier. For Szumowska it was the boldest statement yet as she unflinchingly showcased the unexposed sides of society and provided a platform for the most underrated members of her profession.
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