Death is a childhood friend, Anora, Toi-mème: the 3 cultural favorites of the week / EP11

Anora

Anora won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2024. In this film, Anora, 23, is an escort in a Brooklyn club. One evening, she meets Vanya, the son of a rich Russian oligarch, barely out of adolescence. Under the spell, he asks her to be his girlfriend for a week, for several thousand dollars and finally they get married in Las Vegas. A union far from being appreciated by Vanya’s rich parents who send their henchmen in search of the couple.

Some criticize the award for its glamorization of sex work and the male gaze of the director. With his camera, he would objectify the women he films. Certainly, in Anora, the sex scenes are omnipresent and the shots on the escorts’ bodies are sometimes uncomfortable, but isn’t it simply their daily life to be taken for an object? A good film is a work that sparks debate. So go see Anora by Sean Baker in the cinema.

Death is a childhood friend

While she was in high school, journalist Camélia Kheiredine lost one of her friends. This is the starting point of his podcast “Death is a childhood friend” for Arte Radio. When a child dies, what happens to his friends? Camélia gives voice to these damaged kids who have grown up. They talk about their trauma, the lack of support at the time and how this immense loss has shaped them.

yourself

With her book “Toi-mème”, published by Denoël, Anne Chirol dissects all the sociotypes that populate social networks, from the “cool girl” to the “bad bitch” including the inevitable “charo”. It is a collection of his columns for the newspaper Le Monde. Anne Chirol proves to what extent self-presentation spares no one on the networks. With a lot of humor, this book is a reflection of an era and an entire 2.0 generation.