There are towns like Cannes all over the world: beautiful paradises filled with 2 types of people. There are the tourists, and in Cannes, this includes highly visible, ultra-rich tourists in their yachts. Then there are the townies, the regular people who live and work in the town, making its existence possible for the tourists.
16-year-old Naima (Nina Farid) is a townie. Her mother works as a hotel housekeeper, and Naima isn't sure what she will do, but she has an offer to spend the summer interning with a top chef. She gets distracted from that plan by the arrival of her beautiful, older cousin, Sofia (Zahia Dehar). Sofia is sex personified, built like Sofia Loren, and she dresses to show off what she's got, which, of course, is all that she's got. She lives off the largesse of wealthy men, and she takes her job seriously.
Naima absorbs all this, watching her cousin seduce and be seduced by a billionaire, Andres (Nuno Lopez). Seduced, herself, by the glamour, Naima abandons her internship plans as well as her regular friends to go along for the ride. Her eyes are opened to a world of luxury, sophisticated friends, and sex.
“An Easy Girl” is a beautifully-filmed, erotic movie with a great story. I will give one spoiler: it's NOT a thriller. Nobody gets murdered or anything. This is really a coming-of-age tale. Naima is right at the age where she wants to start exploring her independence. Of course she is drawn in by her beautiful, confident cousin, who seems to move through the world so effortlessly. Exploring Cannes's night life with Sofia is completely different from going out with Naima's high school friends. Sofia's beauty seems to open up endless possibilities. Also, Naima is raised by a single mom, so it's natural that she admires Sofia's ability to get attention from older men.
The more they hang out, the more Naima learns that Sofia's life isn't effortless at all. The title of the film is actually ironic. Sofia isn't “easy” in the traditional sense: you have to be rich to be with her. Life doesn't come as easy to Sofia as it seems, either. Looking the way she does, attracting these wealthy men, and keeping them interested, all of it takes work. Sofia doesn't assume that the world owes her things. She has a sense of duty in holding up her end of the relationship, both in the bedroom and at the dinner table. Before a dinner date with Andres, she cooks a meal for herself and Naima, explaining that, at dinner, she needs to be able to focus on the other guests and make interesting conversation, rather than being focused on eating. Like a samurai or an old-West gunslinger, Sofia has a code that she lives by.
For his part, Andres is really just the other side of the coin from Sofia. He shows off his wealth the way she shows off her body. He has an assistant named Phillipe, who is almost a mentor. Andres is new money, with little idea how to spend his millions other than prancing around in a yacht like Euro-trash. Phillipe is helping Andres become a collector of valuable artifacts and introducing him to educated sophisticates. Andres refers to Phillipe as “Socrates,” suggesting that he views him as his teacher. Phillipe's influence over Andres, however, does not seem to extend to Andres's romantic dalliances.
“An Easy Girl” is a sexy movie that gives you a lot to think about. Watching it is like going on a sun-soaked vacation and reading a classic novel!
4 stars out of 5
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment