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
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
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