Charlotte is a young French woman with freckles and an innocence that make her look like the girl next door. Alicja is from Poland, about the same age, but harder-looking. Both are college students in Paris — and both are paying tuition by selling their bodies. In the disappointing “Elles,” by Polish director Malgoska Szumowska, they tell their stories to middle-aged writer Anne (Juliette Binoche, excellent as usual), who is doing a story about college hookers for Elle magazine.
The prostitutes, who do not know each other, have few qualms about their part-time profession. “It doesn’t take much time, and you get used to the money,” explains Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier). Alicja (Joanna Kulig) says she doesn’t worry — even about not using condoms — because the only other women the men sleep with are their wives. Meanwhile, the secrets of Anne’s life with her successful husband and two sons are gradually revealed. Could it be that she’s as oppressed as her two subjects?
Szumowska provides lurid scenes of perverted sex, but she offers no new insight into the sordid world of prostitution and the dangers sex workers face. Nor does she flesh out Charlotte and Alicja. The result is a superficial and voyeuristic film.