Women-in-prison is a
whole film sub-genre onto itself.
Usually it’s sexual fantasies run rampant with lots of action and plenty
of flesh.
But what happens when you
pluck a story from real-life events, throw in a French twist, with a sultry
star played by two-time Cannes Film Festival-winner, Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue
Is the Warmest Color, I Used to Be Darker) and with direction by Pierre
Godeau (Juliette), who also adapted the tell-all by Florent Gonçalves
and Catherine Siguret, “Défense D'Aimer?”
You get the Distrib Films
production of Down by Love, which will be making its domestic DVD debut on
Feb. 12 courtesy of Icarus Films.
Anna (Adèle Exarchopoulos)
is a female prisoner, whose crimes we are not initially privy to (in real-life
she was “the bait” for a gang of kidnappers and murders known as Les Barbares). She ends up an adult prison run by 40ish
warden by the name of Jean Firmino (Guillaume Gallienne — Yves Saint Laurent, Me, Myself
and Mum, etc.), who is happily married, with a child and is roughly
twice Anna’s age.
Seductive young woman and
prison warden … with a French twist.
The simple infatuation turns to an affair and the chances taken escalate
to the point where watching the events unfold literally make you squirm in your
seat! What a delight!
The film had a very, very
brief arthouse run back in 2016, so Down by Love is virtually unseen by
American audiences. Put it on your Feb.
12 home entertainment viewing list … you will not be disappointed!
Down by Love is presented in French with English subtitles.
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