Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District” is the French filmmaker’s first film since his Palme d’Or win for “Deephan” back in 2015. Don’t expect this racy but oddly convoluted film to land Audiard the big prize again this year.
The tangled plot has Chinese-French student Émilie (Lucie Zhang) searching for a roommate, which leads her to Camille (Makita Samba), a twentysomething high-school teacher. They hook up the first night he moves in, but the roommate-with-benefits perks quickly turn into nadir as Émilie develops feelings for him that he can’t reciprocate.
Enter Nora (Noémie Merlant), a thirtysomething student enrolling in law school and being mistaken for “Amber Sweet,” an online sex-chat worker; After being ridiculed by the student body for the sex work she never did, Nora drops out and makes a career in real estate and that’s where he and Camille become co-workers at the agency and eventual sexual partners.
Convoluted much? Quite so. Audiard’s film is all about intercourse, and more intercourse. It’s an indelibly sexy movie with Zhang, Samba and Merlant going full-frontal for their respective roles. It all works, ever so slightly, well, with the message here that life without sex can be miserable. How French.
Shot in sumptuous black-and-white and adapted from comic-book artist Adrian Tomine’s short stories novella “Killing and Dying by the American,” Audiard’s Film lacks the kind of substance, not to mention subtle nature, to rank among his greats (“A Prophet,” “Rust and Bone”). However, this is a film very much driven by visual filmmaking and the excellent performances from its cast.
Nothing too profound is said here, it’s all about the highs of coitus and, I guess, the falling in and out of love that can come with it. Once Amber Sweet herself (Jehnny Beth) shows up into the mix, and a relationship begins to flower between her and Nora, you just lose all grasp of the numerous implausibilities that happen in the screenplay, which, in addition to Audiard, was co-written by none other than “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” helmer Celine Sciamma. [B]