Working Girls (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Her nom de filmmaking comes from an infamous 19th-century murder, but Lizzie Borden is always ahead of her time. The leftist revolutionaries in her 1983 work of white-hot agitprop, Born In Flames, rebel against a neoliberal government, a schism familiar to anyone who has followed a recent Democratic primary. And her 1986 film Working Girls, chronicling a day in the life of an escort working a double at an upscale Manhattan brothel, was produced during the so-called “feminist sex wars” of the ’80s, where anti-porn and anti-sex work crusaders faced off against activists who argued that the right to express themselves sexually was key to women’s liberation—another debate still raging in academia (and on social media).Working Girls is a slice-of-life drama that emphasizes the daily routines and little annoyances that make sex work a job like any other—the basket of sauce packets on top of a fridge in the communal kitchen, squabbles about scheduling and mid-afternoon drugstore runs—while frankly presenting the unique dangers and stigmas these women face. The film is told from the perspective of Molly (Louise Smith), a bohemian photographer who has yet to tell her girlfriend how she earns her money. Molly doesn’t mind being an escort so much; most of her clients are harmless regulars, and she actually enjoys talking to some of them. But when she’s asked to stay for a second shift by her needling, manipulative madam Lucy (Ellen McElduff), Molly begins to question if this is really what she wants to be doing with her time.Quotable and brazen, relatable and revelatory, Working Girls premiered at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. And despite positive reception from critics— “by the end of this movie, you wonder where [sex workers] find not only the patience, but also the strength” to do what they do, Roger Ebert wrote in his review—it all but disappeared for several decades. That was due to mishandling of the film by its distributor, Miramax, which tried to sell this pointedly anti-erotic film as titillating softcore. Now Working Girls been restored and is being re-released in theaters, as well as in a deluxe DVD/Blu-ray edition from The Criterion Collection.

I remember watching this movie for the first time on Cinemax late at night when I was a teenager and was way too young to be watching it. I saw it all the way through as an adult years later and realized this is a fascinating film made during a time when AIDS was very real and sex work still continued on. This is not a sexy film, either. The women who appear in it are not supermodel or leading actress quality, but simple women who you'd expect to see in escort agencies dealing with life in a brothel when the Johns aren't there. Their madam is a passive-aggressive and insecure woman, the Johns all have their quirks and strange behaviors, the use of condoms is portrayed in a safe sex-positive way and there's a humanization of women as sex workers at a time when it was still taboo to make a film like this.I'm glad to see Criterion rescued this film from being lost forever, as Lizzie Borden said Miramax did not properly promote this film when it was released (but how could anyone market this effectively in 1986?), lost the original cut of the film and there were only three surviving copies of the DVD. There's also a renewed interest in this now as a new generation of sex workers are looking to end stigma and stereotypes about the world's oldest profession.

Honest representation of a business. Unusual but none the less.

Yes

Returned item.

DVD transfer is acceptable, I enjoy the movie, seems like a relatively realistic look at the ladies. Soft spot in my heart for hookers who are good at their business.

Takin' It Off

good price...fast delivery...5 stars

I wanted it for a book I was hoping to right

was not what I expected not very good porn not enough showen

A real classic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

名作だと思います。自戒を込めてですが、もっと英語の勉強に身を入れておけばよかったな。