THE “WORLD’S” OPINION – NOT TO BE MISSED
We can’t see 100,000,000,000,000 (one hundred thousand billion)by Virgil Vernier, without thinking of Anora, of the American Sean Baker, awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Although different in their aesthetic and in their approach (the social in Baker, the myth in Vernier), the two films feature escorts in search of money and happiness – one in Brooklyn (New York), the other in Monaco, a city-state in the south of France. The two directors and screenwriters, close in age, around fifty (Baker is 53, and Vernier 48), are keen to show sex work as a profession in its own right. Each in their own style.
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Baker films the bodies and nudity in a frenzy, Vernier, on the contrary, puts the passes off-camera. In One hundred thousand billionsex is mentioned during short scenes preceding intercourse, or during discussions between friends – anthology moments with young actors speaking larger than life. Aftine, with fine features (Zakaria Bouti, a revelation), frizzy hair pulled into a ponytail, shares a house with three friends near Monaco. The four escorts go about their meetings with clients they met on apps. « It’s taffeta! »says one, to show that the money is not stolen.
When the end of year holidays approach, the girls return home and Tandie, who has no parents, finds himself alone smoking a joint. On the threshold, the film seems to leave reality to open a parenthesis, in the fantasized Monegasque city. Without transition, we find Faite in a luxurious apartment in beige tones. A thirty-year-old of Serbian origin (Mina Gajovic) pays him to spend Christmas with her. She acts as a babysitter and looks after a young teenager, Julia (Victoire Song), whose wealthy parents are absent: they are busy building an island off the coast of the Principality, just that.
It is a pure invention of a scenario, based on reality: for several years, Monaco has been extending its territory by gaining a few hectares on the sea, at the cost of a titanic project. The title, One hundred thousand billionrefers to this excess, to money, to this side « money money » Monegasque… Compared to the price of a pass, all these figures leave the character dreaming. Affine is both the voiceover narrator (of the film) and the ticket counter.
Little or unknown actors
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