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Alice (Movie Review)

Happily married Alice’s (Emilie Piponnier) life is turned upside down when she discovers her husband (Martin Swabey) has spent all their money on prostitutes and they are now a year behind on their mortgage. In a last-ditch bid to support herself and her child, Alice becomes a high-end escort, which challenges her perceptions of life and love. At times bitterly funny but always brutally honest, the film traces Alice’s journey to her own kind of freedom. Writer-director Josephine Mackerras’ powerful debut feature won the Grand Jury Award at last year’s SXSW, and the ‘Spirit of The Festival Award’ at the 27th Raindance Film Festival, and stars Emilie Piponnier in a breakout performance.

 

 

Alice Ferrand (Emilie Pipponier) is the perfect wife and mother. She and her husband, Francois (Martin Swabey) live in a nice flat with their young son in Paris. Everything seems right with the world as they navigate their lives in marital and familial bliss. One day after grocery shopping Emilie’s debit card is declined and she comes to find out from the bank that her joint bank account is empty. Not only empty, but there’s a lien on the apartment, because she and her husband are behind on the mortgage and will be foreclosed upon shortly.

This obviously catches Emilie off guard. Everything in life was going so well. What adds salt to the wound is that Francois has now gone “missing” and she has discovered that Francois has literally blown their entire life savings on Parisian escorts. Yes, you read right. It’s that kind of party.

 

 

 

Funny enough, when I first got the press release for a review query, I thought the synopsis read great! A cheating husband spends he and his wife’s life savings on escorts, what will happen next? Well, as time runs out for Emilie, she takes matters into her own hands and becomes an escort herself to try and make enough money to cover the payments on the apartment. Again, reading that the wife has to now become an escort herself in order to save her home and child from essentially being homeless – please tell me more!

 

 

What is hilarious is that on paper, Alice sounds hysterically salacious. I thought the film was going to be some sort of throwback to those late movies where a femme fatale is wronged, and she takes matters into her own hands by becoming some crazy angel of death. No, this did not happen, and no, this is a complete departure of what could have been. Alice is movie filled with hope, strength, and an enduring lead that levels up the material. It’s not a cynical movie and respects the viewer as much as it respects the cast. Something like Alice, in the wrong hands, could have been quite salacious and cynical and just mean spirited for the sake of it.

Writer-director Josephine Mackerras makes her feature film debut and knocks it out of the park with Alice. to say that 2020 has had its moments of ups and downs would be an understatement. Considering how few theatrical features I have seen this year; I would not be surprised if Alice makes her way to my top-10 of the year list. I should also mention that even though the film does have its moments of sexiness, it is not a gratuitous film in terms of sex and nudity, or even harsh language. I will stop short of saying that it is wholesome fun for the entire family, but it is definitely a classy and lovely film that I had a lot of fun with. I look forward to more from Emilie Pipponier and Josephine Mackerras. Alice is highly recommended!

 

Film: 

 

 

FILM INFORMATION:

Original title: ALICE | Writer, Director, Producer: JOSEPHINE MACKERRAS Genre: Drama | Country: Australia | France | Language: French | Year: 2019 | Duration: 103 min. | Picture:  Colour | Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 | Format: PVOD DIGITAL RELEASE | Cast: EMILIE PIPONNIER | MARTIN SWABEY| CHLOE BOREHAM

 

Alice will be released on selected digital platforms in the UK (Curzon Home Cinema, The BFI Player, Barbican Cinema On Demand, Amazon Prime Video UK ) Friday July 24, 2020!