Alice

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