Dernière mise à jour : août 8th, 2016 at 12:53 pm
“Student Services” (“Mes chères études”, 2010) : successful television adaptation by French director Emmanuelle Bercot of the hit autobiographical novel by Laura D., “Mes chères études/Etudiante, 19 ans, job alimentaire : prostitution” (literally, “My dear studies/Student, 19 years, job: prostitution”).
Synopsis :
“My name is Laura, I am 19 years old. I’m studying languages and I am forced to prostitute myself to pay my studies. I am not alone in this case. It seems that more than 40 000 students do as me. Everything was moving on in a strange logic, not that I really realized that I was falling. I am not born with a silver spoon in mouth. I have never known the luxury and the ease, but until this year, I never missed anything. My desire to learn, my beliefs have always made me think that my student years were going to be the best, the most carefree. I never thought that my first year at university would turn into a nightmare. “
“Student Services”:
A successfull free TV adaptation
The first paragraph of the book by Laura D. is efficient and direct. To find again this strength, Emmanuelle Bercot chooses to build the story with a flash-forward: close-ups of a camera moving along the leg of Laura (Deborah François) washing her sex and succession of shots of Laura wiping, grabbing a handful of condoms, putting on jeans and a polo shirt, then wide shots showing her back in the street before discovering her for the first time when she met her first client Jo (Alain Cauchy).
Loving these stories where female characters are under duress (cf. the beautiful short film “À poil” , literally “Naked”, made in 2004), Emmannuelle Bercot successfully managed to make us aware of this hidden side of student life and to share the vicious circle in which these students soon find themselves locked up to have money.
With a direction as close to her characters, the film also brings together a judicious cast, whether the lost Laura (Deborah François), the manipulator client of fifty years Jo (Alain Cauchy), the odious first love Manu ( Benjamin Siksou) or the lazy love Benjamin (Mathieu Demy).
Free adaptation of the novel by Laura D., “Mes chères études” (literally, “My dear studies”) by Emmanuelle Bercot is a TV film to discover without delay.
To learn more:
- “Student Services” (“Mes chères études”, 2010)
Direction: Emmanuelle Bercot
Script: Emmanuelle Bercot
Image: Christophe Offenstein
Editing: Julien Leloup
Cast: Déborah François, Alain Cauchy, Benjamin Siksou, Mathieu Demy…
French Original channel: Canal+