In Bangkok, Thailand, women punch a clock and wait for clients in a brightly lit glass box; in the red-light district of Faridpur, Bangladesh, a madam haggles over the price of a teenage girl; and in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, crack-addicted women pray to a deity named Lady Death.

This beautiful, unsettling documentary from the adventurous maverick Michael Glawogger travels from Thailand to Bangladesh to Mexico to view how the oldest profession differs across cultures. The candid, intimate experiences of sex workers form the empathetic center of this remarkable film.