On the sun-drenched island of Haiti in the 80’s, foreigners idle away their vacations in the palm-fringed paradise of the beach hotels. Brenda, Ellen and Sue, three North American women, converge on the island looking for flirtation, relaxation and respite from their colorless jobs and marriages. They find what they are looking for in Legba an enigmatic local adonis whose beauty and passion has them enthralled. It is this passion that will lead them away from the guilded cage of tourism and will open their eyes to the poverty stricken and dangerous world of Haiti at the end of “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s notorious regime.
Laurent Cantet is a French director, born on June 15, 1961 at Melle (Deux-Sèvres). His parents were schoolteachers in Ardilleux.
On 25 May 2008, he received the Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes 2008, for the movie Entre les murs. –Wikipedia
charlotte rampling just proves that after 5 decades in the film industry she could still churn out a wonderful performance, and ditto to the rest of the ensemble
Yes the women were there for gratification as it were, but there was a deeper psychology beyond raw physical satisfaction, and the actors embodied the roles really well - they thought (and thus we think) that all they wanted was an easy life, but noone could help becoming emotionally attached.. through their relations the film subtly questioned more pertinent political/racial issues too. I really enjoyed this.
Visually authentic, which was a pleasure. A bit stilted sexually, without enough gut-and-mind-emptying gratification shown, which is what the white women were there for, as was described by Ellen in her final monologue. Too bad imo, because some great sex scenes in full could catapult this film into a more of a classic. Still, authentic, and pleasant, and glad I saw it ^0|0^