MUCH LOVED
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA D: Nabil Ayouch. Morocco/France. 104 minutes. Sep 16, 6 pm Scotiabank 2 Sep 17, noon TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sep 18, 9:30 pm Scotiabank 14. See listings. Rating: NNN
In this intense probe of Morocco’s underground sex industry, three sex workers experience the highs – both in terms of happiness and drugs – and lows of selling their bodies.
Writer/director Ayouch understands deeply the essential conflict – lots of money and access to power versus sex workers’ vulnerability to their clients and shaming by their families.
Noha (Loubna Abidar), for example, is the trio’s queen bee but is scorned when she visits her original home. Soukaina (Halima Karaouane) lucks out and lands a client who likes poetry, but he may have a darker side. And Randa (Asmaa Lazrak) loves the perks but could be a lesbian.
Both Ayouch and his star Abidar are already under fire from authorities for violating Moroccan values, but in some respects, the film is less than subversive: the sex scenes cater to the male gaze in ways that suggest Ayouch isn’t all that radical.
