House of Tolerance - review

True, the whole thing looks ravishing, and that includes the girls, patronised by mostly elderly men and regularly examined for syphilis by a visiting doctor as if they were meat. They dress - and undress - beautifully, commanded by a madam (Noemie Lvovsky) who has two children, a tame panther lolling on a divan and a reasonably kindly nature - except where money is concerned.

The rent is going up and it looks like the end of a profitable epoch, so there's a party to mark its passing which has tearful sex workers dancing to, of all things, Nights in White Satin. This decidedly posh maison close has had its day and its prostitutes will at last be free either to marry (unlikely) or walk the dangerous streets.

Bonello traces this almost languidly, though there is horror when a rich customer with sadistic tendencies ties up the girl (Alice Barnole) who had hoped he'd marry her and then slashes through her mouth so she has a permanent scar. He is banned from the building but not prosecuted and the girl is made a skivvy.

Otherwise we watch with various degrees of either fascination or boredom as the girls go about their work wondering how long it or they will last.

Clearly Bonello is suggesting that they are more or less elegant slaves. But generally he leaves us to our own thoughts. They are not always favourable towards this rather passive film, but it does linger in the mind.

House Of Tolerance