Women on the Balcony: funny, raw and surprising [critique]

Noémie Merlant sets out to make a comedy tinged with horror… A biting feminist cry that denies nothing and does not spare us.

For years, Noémie Merlant has embodied in the landscape of French cinema the experiences of women exploring their desires. Whether in the singular JumboIn Portrait of the girl on fire or even more recently in Emmanuelleshe brilliantly gives voice to these women who fight for their desires. And it is this same movement that carries her when she goes behind the camera. After Mi iubita my love in 2021, this summer she presented her second feature film as director at Cannes: Women on the balcony. Three women in the grip of the Marseille heatwave fantasize about their mysterious neighbor across the street and try to flirt with him.

But the business goes wrong (to say the least) and through a combination of bad decisions the trio must defend themselves for their freedom. The film isn't afraid to borrow from comedy, drama, thriller, and even horror to pull off some unnerving originality. What if Women on the balcony shocks, he does it with indisputable confidence. He is not afraid to be (very) gory, to rub shoulders with burlesque scenes, but remains capable of plunging us into the necessary seriousness when the seriousness of a situation demands it. Because even if it loses its viewer at times it nevertheless shines through the artistic intuition of its author. Noémie Merlant does not seem to be in a quest for accuracy but in the testimony of a feminine experience without modesty, funny, raw and surprising.

Bastien Assie

By Noémie Merlant. With Souheila Yacoub, Sanda Codreanu, Noémie Merlant… Duration 1h43. Released December 11, 2024