In the Morning of La Petite Mort
Director – Wang Yu-Lin – 2021 – Taiwan – 100m
***1/2
The urban lives of a beautiful young prostitute, a homeless food delivery boy, a Filipino cleaning lady and a building superintendent meet and transform each other – Taiwanese drama premieres in the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
This opens with a shot of a painting depicting a pig, a fire, an orgasmically ecstatic, scantily clad woman and more, elements which play a part in what follows.
In a smart, up-market apartment, a beautiful young prostitute (Wang Yun-zhi) meditates. Then she services her clients (shown to a soft-core degree of explicit detail). She gets the job done, but the men she services don’t seem to understand that sex is about two people, not just one person (them), so she endures it as a not especially enjoyable job rather than takes pleasure in it. She has a little grille in her door so she can see who’s there before she opens it.
Meanwhile, a young man (Yusuke Fukichi) rides a scooter through the streets, arrives at the building in the pouring rain, walks along the corridor. He’s delivering food to her apartment. His job done, he returns to his home.… Read the rest