1890's in-camera piece about a luxurious brothel in slow decline.

Picture gallery

In a luxurious brothel at the turn of the 19th century, business is carried out in sumptuous surroundings but the velvet doesn't hide the cruelty and sadism of what goes on inside. Each encounter is followed by another as they all become interchangeable. The champagne flows endlessly, the crystal sings and tears roll down powdered cheeks. The women live there as subjects to the rhythm of a carefully carried out and monotonous ritual. Women-only by day, the brothel is haunted by tired silhouettes passing in hushed halls. Every evening the game begins again, as the women doll themselves up and the men wear them back down again. The decline begins, the varnish cracks and the women are swept along as their world collapses.

More than just a magnificent collection of girls in a velvet cocoon, the plot is as fine as the lace on their dresses. Bertrand Bonello takes the audience into the heart of an in-camera piece that is never lurid, which almost reaches the degree of historical documentary. Locked in the gilded cage with the prostitutes, the audience feels the oppression most when it is finally released plus. The setting is opulent and there is definitely a pearl inside.