Cleveland International Film Festival } March 25 – April 5, 2020 } Tower City Cinemas

NELLY

Year: 2016
Country: CANADA
Run Time: 101 minutes

The first things everybody noticed about Nelly Arcan were her sky-blue eyes and gorgeous figure. Yet she was a serious writer who felt a constant, humiliating pull between her appearance and the substance of her work. Nelly’s first novel Whore caused a sensation in the French-Canadian literary world in 2001. Detailing the life of a prostitute named Cynthia, it was based on Nelly’s experience as a sex worker. Nelly wrote semi-autobiographical and scandalous novels, short stories, opinion pieces, and columns—as well as a coffee-table book on beauty. Director Anne Émond presents Nelly as a composite of the four types of women she tried to be: glamour girl, writer, junkie, and whore. Convinced she’s no good, Nelly seeks out humiliation. Inhaling reviews of her “performances” as a hooker and a writer, she both loathes and loves being judged. Inspired by the life and work of Nelly Arcan, NELLY is a kaleidoscopic study of loneliness and female sexuality. Mylène Mackay’s performance as Nelly is astonishing. (In French with subtitles) —B.B.

CIFF41 Screenings

Tower City Cinemas

Thursday, April 06, 2017 at 9:15 PM

Friday, April 07, 2017 at 5:15 PM

Sidebar
WOMEN OF THE WORLD

Competition
ReelWomenDirect Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman

Director
Anne Émond

Anne Émond, based in Montréal, studied cinema at the University of Quebec. Her films have screened to acclaim at the Locarno and Toronto International Film Festivals. At the 2012 Canadian Genie Awards, her "Nuit #1" was named the year's Best Feature Film by a first-time director.

Filmography
"Nuit #1" (2011), "Our Loved Ones" (2015), NELLY (2016)

Producer
Nicole Robert

Screenwriting
Anne Émond

Cinematography
Josée Deshaies

Editing
Mathieu Bouchard-Malo

Principal Cast
Mylène Mackay, Mylia Corbeil-Gauvreau, Mickaël Gouin, Sylvie Drapeau, Catherine Brunet, Francis Leplay

Print Source

Seville International

Rrondina@filmsseville.com

sevilleinternational.com

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NELLY

CIFF41 Screenings