Tricks and Sadness
About a month ago Josiane Balasko's Cliente, about a 51 year-old businesswoman (Nathalie Baye) paying for the no-muss, no-fuss sexual services of a younger man, opened in France. This struck me right away as a good idea for an American remake. Especially with a classy, high-pedigree actress of a certain age -- Kristin Scott Thomas or Meryl Streep, let's say -- in the lead role.
Over and over I've walked the aisles of Gelson's and Ralph's in the evening and seen women in business suits pushing their carts, alone and guarded and yet, you can tell, quietly hurting for something else besides this. Perhaps resigned to not having a relationship but not willing to turn themselves off to the extent that they have no life except work, sleep, girlfriends, exercise, pets, children and DVDs. If I were a producer I'd be looking into the remake rights as we speak.
Balasko, 58, has told N.Y. Times reporter Elaine Sciolino that her goals in making the film were twofold. One, "to shatter a long-held taboo in France" and two, "to send a positive message to middle-aged women who find themselves alone and wanting sexual fulfillment."
Balasko says that "a lot of my friends are alone, lonely, divorced, and they can't always reinvent themselves with another man and a new family So I decided to show a female client of a male escort. She's not a victim but a woman who is in control of her life, her feelings, her sexual pleasure."
Is someone going to tell me things are different for older single American women? That they don't share the same situation, and don't feel and want the same things? As long as they believe that satisfaction can be had with the proper safeguards and allowances for modesty?
Prostitution, says Balasko, "is the last sexual territory owned by men. [They] are in control of pleasure and have the right to buy it. Women do not."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 30, 2008 at 12:20 PM
comment #1
DarthCorleone
says ...
*headed to Ralph's*
Posted by DarthCorleone
at October 30, 2008 2:19 PM
comment #2
Sabina E
says ...
there was an article about the movie today and how it's causing a shitstorm in France.
why the double standards, assholes???
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/fashion/30cliente.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=french%20cliente&st=cse&oref=slogin
when I become an older established woman in my 50s, I WANT TO BE ABLE TO PAY FOR HOOKERS, TOO, goddamnit!!!
Posted by Sabina E
at October 30, 2008 2:47 PM
comment #3
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
That's all well and good, but what guy in his right mind would be crazy or egocentric enough to actually charge Nathalie Baye for sex?
Can I be blunt and say if you put someone a little more plain (if not out-and-out ugly) in the lead role, the questions it raises would be more interesting/real?
I look at the still above and I just see two pretty people having sex...hey it's the movies, what else is new?
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 3:04 PM
comment #4
115thDreamer
says ...
Well played, Darth. Still, I'd think the Nathalie Baye types would be at a Bristol Farms location - I'm just saying....
Posted by 115thDreamer
at October 30, 2008 3:12 PM
comment #5
btwnproductions
says ...
Indeed, Baye, Streep, and Thomas aren't the best test cases. But truth to tell it would be difficult to bankroll such a story with a less attractive female lead.
Patricia Clarkson is excellent playing this sort of woman in ELEGY, who watches her convenient relationship (with the elder Ben Kingsley) slip away...
Posted by btwnproductions
at October 30, 2008 3:14 PM
comment #6
Mr. Peel
says ...
If they remake this in America, the woman will be a hot 40 year-old who looks 35 and the guy will be a good-looking 30 year-old who looks 35. Anything interesting will be drained right out of it, which is probably just how they'll want it to be.
Posted by Mr. Peel
at October 30, 2008 3:28 PM
comment #7
DarthCorleone
says ...
115thDreamer>> Thanks. Agreed - but it's a funnier joke keeping Jeff's Ralph's reference.
How bad is it that I just Googled the Bristol Farms store locator? :- )
I'm obviously all talk. Still bantering and not at the Ralph's. But then again, it's not evening yet.
Posted by DarthCorleone
at October 30, 2008 3:29 PM
comment #8
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
I think I'd almost like to watch the docu *about* casting a less attractive female lead in this movie.
Would love to see those slimy producers stutter and sidestep when asked about their hesitation on funding such a film. Given the movie's physical female empowerment theme, these conversations would undoubtedly be rife with irony.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 3:32 PM
comment #9
yopla
says ...
This struck me right away as a good idea for an American remake.
Posted by yopla
at October 30, 2008 3:56 PM
comment #10
yopla
says ...
grrr, what happened ? i reacted to the quote with a "how about correctly distribute the movie in US ? i'm sure many americans would want to see more foreign movies. Because closing the doors to foreign movies and remaking them is not a solution."
Posted by yopla
at October 30, 2008 4:01 PM
comment #11
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
In theory, sure, but who do you cast?
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher would be some stunt-casting, too bad Kubrick's not around for a pseudo-sequel to EWS.
I think this theme was already explored tangentially in Lyne's "Unfaithful." I remain skeptical if an American remake of "Cliente" would be nearly as interesting as that film, especially without Diane Lane.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 4:03 PM
comment #12
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
Amen, yopla....except for the part about "many Americans" wanting to watch more foreign films. That I'm not so sure about. But we're certainly not given much of a chance now, are we?
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 4:06 PM
comment #13
D.Z.
says ...
"Over and over I've walked the aisles of Gelson's and Ralph's in the evening and seen women in business suits pushing their carts, alone and guarded and yet, you can tell, quietly hurting for something else besides this. Perhaps resigned to not having a relationship but not willing to turn themselves off to the extent that they have no life except work, sleep, girlfriends, exercise, pets, children and DVDs."
Ever consider writing one of those trashy novels on the side, Jeff? For some reason, I imagine you'd be perfect for it. Just use a pen name.
Posted by D.Z.
at October 30, 2008 4:30 PM
comment #14
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
How about Elvis Spacey?
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 4:39 PM
comment #15
yopla
says ...
CitizenKanedforChewingGum :))) yeah the distributors don't give you many chances, that's for sure. But lol you're harsh, i'm sure a good amount of american people wouldn't be against discovering more the foreign movies.
Posted by yopla
at October 30, 2008 4:45 PM
comment #16
Burbanked
says ...
Mr. Peel is right, basically.
It's not a literal remake, but it's headed for TV with a 44-year-old Courteney Cox playing a 40-year old divorcee. "Cougar Town"? Seriously?
Posted by Burbanked
at October 30, 2008 4:54 PM
comment #17
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
Well, hey, let me know if you meet any women in their 20s (read: 18-49) who would enjoy a foreign film marathon of Tarkovsky, Kar-Wai, Argento, Kurosawa, Fellini, Cuaron, Godard, Polanski, Winding Refn, Cronenberg, Proyas, Greengrass, et. al, because I would sure love to meet (read: fuck) them! :))
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 4:56 PM
comment #18
D.Z.
says ...
Kane: Chicks dig WKW, actually. Probably more than guys, in some cases.
Posted by D.Z.
at October 30, 2008 5:00 PM
comment #19
drbob
says ...
Wasn't there already an American version of this film called "American Gigolo."
Posted by drbob
at October 30, 2008 5:06 PM
comment #20
erniesouchak
says ...
Didn't Paul Schrader just make a movie about a gigolo in D.C., and wasn't KSThomas in it?
This item reminds me of 2 things: a great English movie called "The Mother" that was out a few years ago, and Fassbinder's "Ali Fear Eats The Soul." Granted, both were about romantic relationships rather than purely sexual ones, but both also had the balls to not make the women hotties. And neither set of filmmakers was American.
Posted by erniesouchak
at October 30, 2008 5:24 PM
comment #21
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
Yeah, on second thought, scratch WKW for Takashi Miike or Chan-wook Park.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at October 30, 2008 5:35 PM
comment #22
DarthCorleone
says ...
I once had a Polish stripper smiling big because of my eagerness to discuss Kieslowski with her. Yeah, yeah...I'm the sad wretch who thought the stripper truly liked him. But seriously. I think she appreciated the diversion from the usual lapdance discourse.
Posted by DarthCorleone
at October 30, 2008 10:19 PM
comment #23
nola
says ...
I saw The Mother. Excellent movie and sad. I really felt bad for the protagonist and don't blame her for getting it on with Daniel Craig.
I don't think a remake of this movie would work here. The 40 something woman would look 25, like in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. I didn't believe for a minute that Angela Basset and Taye Diggs had a 20 year age difference between them.
Posted by nola
at October 31, 2008 5:39 AM
comment #24
Shox R4
says ...
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Posted by Shox R4
at May 21, 2011 2:41 AM