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Movies / On DVD / The Wild Side
The Wild Side

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The Wild Side (2005)

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Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:10

Rotten:6

Average Rating:5.9/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Jun 24, 2005 Limited

Synopsis: This moody French film from director Sébastian Lifshitz tells the story of Stéphanie (Stéphanie Michelini), a jaded transsexual prostitute who leaves Paris to take care of her dying mother (Josiane... This moody French film from director Sébastian Lifshitz tells the story of Stéphanie (Stéphanie Michelini), a jaded transsexual prostitute who leaves Paris to take care of her dying mother (Josiane Storelu) in the country. She brings along her two lovers, a street-hustling Arab boy, Jamel (Yasmine Belmadi), and a Russian ex-soldier named Mikhail (Edouard Nikitine). While Stephanie and her mom come to grips with their troubled past, Mikhail has his own problems dealing with his mother back in Russia, as does Jamel who finds his lifestyle not warmly accepted by his conventional family. This is a film about crossing barriers sexually, personally, and even--to comical effect--linguistically, as Mikhail does not speak French, so everyone has to communicate in the commonly shared broken English. The structure of the film is also broken, with events presented in a jigsaw, out-of-order format, including scenes from Stephanie's childhood as a boy with her adoring sister (who died in childhood), and scenes of sometimes graphic sexual exploration. Androgynous singer Anthony (of Anthony and the Johnsons) opens the film and sets the mood with a heartbreaking serenade to a parlor full of elegantly dressed transsexuals. Real life transsexual Michelini is superb in the lead, conveying a sophistication that draws from the same bottomless well of sexual ennui as Isabelle Huppert and Marlene Dietrich. The photography by Agnés Godard captures with somber eloquence the crumbling suburban facades of Northern France and the intertwined bodies of the lead actors. [More]

Starring: Yasmine Belmadi, Stephanie Michelini, Edouard Nikitine, Josiane Stoleru

Starring: Yasmine Belmadi, Stephanie Michelini, Edouard Nikitine, Josiane Stoleru

Director: Sebastien Lifshitz

Director: Sebastien Lifshitz
Screenwriter: Stephane Bouquet
Producer: Gilles Sandoz
Composer: Jocelyn Pook
Screenwriter: Sebastien Lifshitz
Studio: Wellspring

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Release:

Oct 25, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Wild Side

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
11/13/07
BBC

The woe-is-me, pity-please ambiance with which Lifschitz has suffused his movie becomes more than a little hard to take.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
09/28/06
Sight and Sound

A weirder ménage à trois you will never encounter.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/19/06
Don Willmott
Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/26/05
AV Club
N/R

No review available.

comment Comment
06/25/05
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Lif****z obviously hopes for the best for Stéphanie and friends, yet the film is filled with doubts and sadness.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
06/24/05
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Several storylines are hinted at but never fully developed, and some draggy scenes dampen the whole Wild affair.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
06/24/05
E! Online

Lyrical yet succinct.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
06/23/05
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A morbid and self-important homosexual Jules & Jim for the new millennium.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/10/05
Russell Edwards
Russell Edwards
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Stony and statuesque, Michelini is an excellent casting choice: Her impassive face and dispassionate voice serve as a carefully constructed protective mask that hides her pain, and which she rarely lets slip.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/10/05
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Viewers are either going to walk out after 10 minutes or, like this tolerant critic, get caught up in the sordid lives of the three misfits and stick around for the ambiguous ending.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
06/10/05
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film explains why Stéphanie and her bisexual boyfriends need each other, but doesn't depict why they are drawn to each other, making the ménage à trois mechanical.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
06/10/05
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

A remarkable film.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/10/05
Donald J. Levit
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

The primary impression is lots of moping and mooning, plus a song at the beginning with some of the worst lyrics you've ever heard.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
06/09/05
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

The collage of poetic visual asides and emotional exchanges courts effusiveness, but it remains earnest and hauntingly expressive of an inner human turmoil.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
06/09/05
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Lifshitz successfully maneuvers his trio of outcasts toward a state of grace: His vision of misfit utopianism, in its own quiet way, is as defiant as anything in Fassbinder.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
06/07/05
Dennis Lim
Dennis Lim
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Welcome to the world of film festival cinema. We hope you enjoy your stay, or at least don't fall asleep in the next hour and a half.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
06/12/04
Oz
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

The performances are all raw and natural, and they are filmed in a close-up and often very intimate way.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
06/12/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
 
 
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