THE BALCONETTES
(The 2025 Vashon Island Film Fest runs August 7-10 on beautiful Vashon Island, just a ferry ride from Seattle. HtN has coverage coming your way like this The Balconettes movie review by Chris Reed! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
With The Balconettes, French actress and writer/director Noémie Merlant (Jumbo) crafts a bold sophomore feature, delivering comedy, thrills, and above all a powerful feminist statement. Starring herself, Sanda Codreanu, and Souheila Yacoub as the titular group (the original title is “les femmes au balcon,” or “the women on the balcony”), the movie explores the many ways its characters are abused and harassed by the men around them. By the end, they regain agency and take control of their destiny. So what if they leave behind a little blood? It’s a small price to pay for freedom.
The opening sequence proves especially audacious, a tour de force of mise-en-scène. The camera takes us on a journey through the facades of opposing apartment blocks before landing on a balcony where a woman lies prone. Is she dead? No, but she is battered. Her husband emerges from inside and kicks her awake. Unfortunately for him, she’s had enough.
Though this character, Denise (Nadège Beausson-Diagne), is not a central protagonist, her actions serve as a reminder of the high physical stakes of far too many heterosexual relationships. She lives above Nicole (Codreanu) and Ruby (Yacoub), the former a would-be author looking for just the right subject and the latter a webcam model (or “camgirl,” as they say in France). While Nicole stares dreamily across the way at the hunk (Lucas Bravo) in the window—sure that she is not hot enough for him—Ruby pursues an active sex life with both men and women.
Into this duo explodes Élise (Merlant), a television actress just off a shoot playing Marilyn Monroe. She left the production a bit abruptly to avoid meeting up with her controlling husband, Paul (Christophe Montenez), not even taking the time to remove the blond wig. Her arrival sets off a chain of events that leads all three friends to make the acquaintance of that hottie in the facing apartment, who invites them over. One thing leads to another, propelling the plot into an alternately violent and hilarious new direction.
As we go, Merlant brings in elements both surreal and supernatural, the whole of it tied closely to the brutal truths of this world. Even while probing the multiplicity of ways that men make women’s lives miserable, however, she manages to keep up a frequently manic pace of comedy, offering as many laughs as sobering facts. It’s a thoroughly engaging mix—buoyed by excellent performances—Merlant’s penchant for hitting us over the head with the obvious notwithstanding. These “balconettes” say what they mean and mean what they say.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
2025 Vashon Island Film Festival; Noémie Merlant; The Balconettes movie review
Post a Comment
