One of the great masters of photography, Helmut Newton made a name for himself exploring the female form, and his cult status continues long after his death in Los Angeles in 2004. Newton's unique and striking way of depicting women has always posed the question: did he empower his subjects or treat them as sexual objects?
Fabienne is a star; a star of French cinema. She reigns amongst men who love and admire her. When she publishes her memoirs, her daughter Lumir returns from New York to Paris with her husband and young child.
Claire is a midwife in a maternity hospital. She is humane and helpful and gives herself entirely to her patients. But her life is not a bed of roses for all that. Her maternity is about to close its doors and the devoted woman is determined not to work in the new modern hospital she regards as a "baby factory".
In Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael's universe, God (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a mean-spirited bastard lounging around his Brussels apartment in dressing gown and trackies, watching sport on TV and wreaking havoc on the world from his DOS-run PC.
In Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael's universe, God (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a mean-spirited bastard lounging around his Brussels apartment in dressing gown and trackies, watching sport on TV and wreaking havoc on the world from his DOS-run PC.
In a French provincial town, Marc encounters Sylvie one night, when he misses his train back to Paris. They wander through the streets until morning, immediately at ease, on the same wavelength, speaking about everything except themselves.
Selma (Björk) is a Czech immigrant, a single mother working in a factory in rural America. Her salvation is her passion for music, specifically, the all-singing, all-dancing numbers found in classic Hollywood musicals.
Bettie (Deneuve) is a harried restaurant owner from Brittany who is an aging former beauty queen with an estranged adult daughter and grandson and an elderly mother who meddles in her life. She loves a married businessman who always told her he would divorce his wife in order to marry her.
The French filmmaker Agnès Varda explores her memories, mostly chronologically, with photographs, film clips, interviews, reenactments, and droll, playful contemporary scenes of her narrating her story.
In Paris in 1964, young Madeleine steals a gorgeous pair of shoes from the shop where she works. While wearing her sexy spike heels, she's mistaken for a prostitute – an error that signals the next direction her life will take. Madeleine starts sleeping with men for money.
In a French bourgeois province in 1977, Suzanne is the submissive wife of rich industrialist Robert Pujol, who runs his umbrella factory with an iron hand and turns out to be just as nasty and tyrannical with his workers as he is with his mistress, children and “trophy” wife.
