Josephine Mackerras’s SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner is an intimate story of one woman’s empowerment that also destigmatises common ideas about sex work. 

Alice (Emilie Piponnier) has what seems like a perfect life in Paris with her husband, François and their young son, Jules. When François disappears, Alice discovers he’s been leading a double life, leaving her in a precarious financial position. Increasingly desperate as the bills pile up and she’s threatened with eviction, Alice finds freedom and purpose as a high-class escort.

Australian filmmaker Mackerras has crafted an understated and unadorned debut, striking for its lack of melodrama and unsensationalised representation of sex work. Piponnier rivets as a woman who has always done what’s expected of her suddenly pushed to do what she never imagined she would have to. Alice’s transformation is revolutionary – defying patriarchy’s suffocating constraints and raising complex ethical questions without ever moralising on them.

“Piponnier dominates every frame, with a mesmerizing screen presence … a festival breakout.” – IndieWire