Women on the balcony *
by Noémie Merlant
French film, 1h43
Noémie Merlant never ceases to amaze us. As a multifaceted actress (Portrait of the girl on fire, Tar, A good man, Emmanuelle) and as a director. After My beloved mon amoura first feature film shot in two weeks, she signs a feminist horror comedy, a joyful and trashy cry of rage against male violence.
Three friends share an apartment in Marseille. The wise Nicole (Sanda Codreanu) dreams of becoming a writer, a way to live a more intense existence. In contrast, Ruby (Souheila Yacoub) has two loves and earns her living as a cam girl (she sexually exposes her body on the Internet). An anxious actress, Élise (Noémie Merlant) flees a shoot to escape the harassment of her partner. They all happily fantasize about a neighbor in the building opposite. When he invites them to his house, the evening promises to be joyful. But it turns into a nightmare.
Burlesque and dark humor
With a few nods to Almodovar and Hitchcock, Noémie Merlant imposes a tone that seduces with its originality, freedom and vitality, served by impeccable actresses. A thunderous first part in bright colors overflows with energy and assumed excess. Between the three heroines, a cheerful and crazy sorority vibrates where solidarity is not an empty word. She finds herself severely tested when one suffers a sexual assault. The film then shifts into gore and fantasy.
The humor, burlesque and dark, will hit the mark more with women than with men who, in this release film, are all aggressors. Undeniable, the sincerity of the feature film echoes that of Noémie Merlant who suffered what she denounces, as a model and companion. In the second part, the scenario gets lost in bloody and dreamlike detours until it seems bloated. Women on the balcony could perhaps have become a trashy standard-bearer of the #MeToo era if it had been tightened around its spine, the unique complicity of these three friends and the vehement denunciation of sexual violence.