Single mother Mona Paparu (Orsolya Török-Illyés) must convince a bureaucrat in child protective services that she should regain custody of her young daughter, who she left in the care of an aunt while working as a prostitute in England. No, that's not right.
Through a series of unfortunate events, young Mona finds herself stripped of her passport in a modern-day slave market, bought by Pascal (Shamgar Amram), who runs bordello where the elite of the worlds of art, politics, and business purchase the services of sexual slaves representing figures of literature (Joan of Arc, Pinocchio, Desdemona, etc). No. That's not it either.
A tale of the brutal sex traffic between the former USSR and the UK stands as a metaphor for the rape of imagination that rules the global culture business. Not one of these interpretations quite works.
Once upon a time, a theatre buffet girl told her story to a filmmaker. Bibliothèque Pascal is first and foremost a fine movie – a dream projected onto our world to wake us up.
A perfect cast, led by the luminous Orsolya Török-Illyés, who once seen can never be forgotten.
Bibliothèque Pascal
2010 [HUNGARIAN]
Drama / Fantasy
Plot summary
A single mother's struggle to support her child leads her into the surreal netherworld of illegal sexual enterprises, with her finally ending up in the Bibliothèque Pascal; an elegant but bizarre house of prostitution in which men can re-enact sexual scenarios inspired by great works of literature for a hefty fee.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
March 20, 2023 at 07:40 PM
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
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A dream projected onto our world to wake us up.
Imaginary Reality
If you think this is going to be one of those sprightly bright Balkan ethnic panoramas in the superficially entertaining Kusturica mold, you're in for a surprise: Beneath all the visual pizazz and eccentric characterizations lies a deeply disturbing portrait of a society marked by physical and mental exploitation as well as moments of human kindness.
Director Hajdu spins an intriguing web of shifting and merging narrative levels of reality versus imagination, both grim and light. By doing so, he gets a better grip on the imponderability of life than most "real" social dramas put together.
Some may find the way he's handling the brothel scenes way too florid, but bear in mind the narrative's fantastic underpinnings and all fits into place.
8 out of 10 literate pimps
Imagine this
A very irritating title, but that shouldn't put you off the movie. There are quite a few other things that will do that job alright! It is really confusing and has a very strange story line. Something that is anything but familiar. Not to mention that it not only walks a thin (moral) line, but crosses that line quite a few times.
This is not for the squeamish or for people who are offended lightly. They will hate this. But then again, it is very unlikely they will find out about the movie ... and even if they do, they will only rant about it, without watching it. That's not to say, that everyone who's going to watch this movie will like it (look at some other comments, to see the controversy this stirs up).
But the cinematography, the really weird story and very fine acting, will hold your attention. Going into the story would spoil the fun, of you discovering it. Though I cannot, give you any final thoughts on this ... you have to come up with something yourself ...