Heading South (Vers Le Sud) (Laurent Cantet). 105 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (February 3). For venues and times, see Movie Listing. Rating: NN Rating: NN
This is the perfect film for anyone who thought Sex And The City would play much better if it were reconceived as an anti-colonialist melodrama.
Set in a Haitian resort during the Duvalier era, Heading South , which played the film festival circuit under its French title, Vers Le Sud , stars Charlotte Rampling , Karen Young and Louise Portal as North American women of a certain age who come to the island for the hot young black guys who are available for a price.
Based on stories by Dany LaFerrière , the film unfortunately presents its leading characters as either pathetic or predatory (Rampling’s character’s like Samantha, but 10 years older and a whole lot nastier), whereas LaFerrière condescends to them because they’re white – an ongoing theme in his fiction.
Director Laurent Cantet , whose Time Out was one of the highlights of 2001, scorns the characters because they’re North American. There’s nothing like a Frenchman confronted with an inferior accent.
You get the impression that Haiti’s political suppression was caused by white women wanting to get some.
A bizarre film, though not actually entertaining.
