Paris, 13th District

CinemaSerf

Makita Samba's "Camille" seems to be the thread upon which this story hangs here, as a teacher who takes up lodgings with "Émilie" (Lucie Zhang). Pretty soon they are at it like rabbits, but he is a bit of a commitment phobe so when she wants something a little more substantial, he moves on to estate agent "Nora" (Noémie Merlant) with whom he has a sexual relationship, but she is never fulfilled. Perhaps that is because she was recently mistaken for a porn star ("Amber Sweet" - Jehnny Beth) by her colleagues at college and embarrassed and ridiculed as a result. She determines not just to find out who spread this scurrilous nonsense, but also to chat with the actress - a friendship gradually ensues here too. The timelines and the storylines are fluid, which slows the pace down rather and the title lends a grittiness to this film that simply isn't there when you watch it. It's got more of a soap opera to it, I felt, with some rather sterile shagging that wasn't remotely sexy or erotic. It has a few moments of humour to it, and the performances - especially from Merlant - are not bad, but the film spends too long showing us scenes of Paris and what plot there is was soon subsumed into a rather mediocre production that monochrome couldn't really enhance. Glad I watched it, but I wouldn't bother again.