Like Walter Benjamin, Bonello associates this insularity with both innocence and the 19th century; and when, in the final sequence of House of Pleasures, he dispenses with the security exuded by these subjects, the effect is like being shaken violently out of a dream.
House of Tolerance(L'Apollonide : Souvenirs de la Maison Close)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France · 2011
2h 2m
Director Bertrand Bonello
Starring Noémie Lvovsky, Hafsia Herzi, Céline Sallette, Jasmine Trinca
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A young woman begins a new life at the Apollonide bordello, a high-class brothel in Paris.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The result is erratic, occasionally WTF hilarious (three words: revenge by panther!), and in its transgressive tracks-of-my-tears climax, capable of finding pleasure in being bat-shit crazy.
The filmmaker gives full vent to his romanticism by staging an End of the Epoch party, with tearful sex workers dancing to "Nights in White Satin," then steps on the mood with yet another farewell fête, commemorating Bastille Day. The prisoners are free - to walk the streets. Ironic, no?
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
It's a strange film, very original and very good. Just by virtue of the subject matter, it can't help but be erotic, and yet eroticism is not the movie's purpose.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
No one, male or female, has any fun, but the men behave as if they do. They are all half-stupefied by the languor in which they drown.
Without soft-pedaling it in the least, Bonello nonetheless mourns the passing of a time where prostitutes didn't control their destinies, but at least had each other.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Throughout the film there is an abundance of sumptuously photographed flesh on view. But House of Pleasures is not an erotic stimulant so much as a slow-moving, increasingly tragic and claustrophobic operatic pageant set almost entirely in the brothel.
Despite copious full-frontal female nudity, House of Pleasures isn't mere sexploitation. Rather, it's a gorgeously filmed portrait of a bygone era, with painstaking attention to period detail. On the downside, the movie is overlong.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Last Metro
(Le Dernier Métro)
A story of love and conflict in Nazi-occupied Paris.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1980
- Director François Truffaut
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Andréa Ferréol, Paulette Dubost, Jean-Louis Richard
- Genre Drama, Romance, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Water Lilies
(Naissance des pieuvres)
Marie joins the local pool’s synchronized swim team for a chance to get close to Floriane—the “bad girl” of the team.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2007
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Pauline Acquart, Adèle Haenel, Louise Blachère, Warren Jacquin, Christel Baras, Marie Gili-Pierre
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel
The Secret
(Si j'étais toi)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Canada • 2007
- Director Vincent Perez
- Cast David Duchovny, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Millie Tresierra, Trisha LaFache, Laurence Leboeuf
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Hoopla
L'Argent
When Yvon accidentally uses a forged 500-franc note at a restaurant, his life begins to spiral into fear and crime.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 1983
- Director Robert Bresson
- Cast Christian Patey, Vincent Risterucci, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet, Caroline Lang, Marc Ernest Fourneau
- Genre Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video
The Housemaid
(하녀)
When opportunity knocks, answer at your own risk.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2010
- Director Im Sang-soo
- Cast Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo, Youn Yuh-jung, Park Ji-young, Ahn Seo-hyun
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Amazon Video
The Names of Love
(Le Nom des gens)
A charming young liberal seduces right-wing men to convert their political views.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2010
- Director Michel Leclerc
- Cast Jacques Gamblin, Sara Forestier, Zinedine Soualem, Jacques Boudet, Carole Franck, Michèle Moretti
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Hoopla, OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Four Lovers
(Happy Few)
- ✭ ✭
- France • 2010
- Director Antony Cordier
- Cast Marina Foïs, Élodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Alexia Stresi, Blanche Gardin
- Genre Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Vudu, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV
Hahaha
(하하하)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2010
- Director Hong Sang-soo
- Cast Kim Sang-kyung, Yu Jun-sang, Moon So-ri, Ye Ji-won, Kim Kang-woo, Youn Yuh-jung
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
We Have a Pope
(Habemus Papam)
We all have our doubts.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2011
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa, Franco Graziosi
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Juan of the Dead
(Juan de los muertos)
50 years after the Cuban Revolution, a new Revolution is about to begin.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, Cuba • 2011
- Director Alejandro Brugués
- Cast Alexis Díaz de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andros Perugorría, Andrea Duro, Jazz Vilá, Eliecer Ramírez
- Genre Horror, Comedy
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Elles
A journalist tries to balance marriage and motherhood while researching college women who work as prostitutes to pay their tuition.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Poland, Germany • 2011
- Director Małgorzata Szumowska
- Cast Juliette Binoche, Anaïs Demoustier, Joanna Kulig, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Krystyna Janda, Andrzej Chyra
- Genre Drama
- Available on OVID, Kanopy
Me and You
(Io e te)
A teenage boy lost in his inner world secretly spends his time alone in the basement of his apartment building.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2012
- Director Bernardo Bertolucci
- Cast Jacopo Olmo Antinori, Tea Falco, Sonia Bergamasco, Veronica Lazăr, Tommaso Ragno, Pippo Delbono
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Grand Seduction
A small fishing village must find a local doctor in order to land a lucrative business contract.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2013
- Director Don McKellar
- Cast Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch, Gordon Pinsent, Liane Balaban, Mark Critch, Peter Keleghan
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee
Phantom
(幻妄)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1975
- Director Toshio Matsumoto
- Cast Naka Fuyuki, Budhadeb Chaudri, Shizue Sakurai
- Genre Documentary
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Asako I & II
(寝ても覚めても)
Asako meets her boyfriend's perfect double two years after his abrupt disappearance.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, France • 2018
- Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi
- Cast Erika Karata, Masahiro Higashide, Rio Yamashita, Sairi Ito, Koji Seto, Daichi Watanabe
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, AsianCrush, Metrograph, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Cineverse, Kanopy, Hoopla
The World to Come
In 19th century America, two women bound to unhappy marriages find intimacy and consolation in each other's company.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United States • 2021
- Director Mona Fastvold
- Cast Katherine Waterston, Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby, Christopher Abbott, Kim Ciobanu, Daniel Blumberg
- Genre Drama, Romance, Western
- Available on Hulu, Hoopla, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Kanopy