Heading South

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Foreign

Written by: Robin Campillo
Laurent Cantet
Dany Laferrière (novel La Chair du Maître and short stories)

Directed by: Laurent Cantet

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 7, 2006
DVD: February 6, 2007

Running Time: 107 minutes, Color

Origin: France / Canada

Language(s): French / English (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Louise Portal, Ménothy Cesar, Lys Ambroise, Jackenson Pierre Olmo Diaz, Wilfried Paul, and Anotte Saint Ford

On the sun drenched island of Haiti in the '70s, foreigners idle away their vacations in the palm-fringed paradise of the beach hotels. Brenda (Young), Ellen (Rampling) and Sue (Portal), three North American women, converge on the island looking for flirtation, relaxation and respite from their colorless jobs and marriages. They find what they are looking for in Legba (Cesar), an enigmatic local Adonis whose beauty and passion has them enthralled. It is this passion that will lead them away from the gilded cage of tourism and will open their eyes to the poverty stricken and dangerous world of Haiti. (Celluloid Dreams)

Also On Metacritic

FILM: Human Resources Time Out

Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Fred M. gave it a10:
The film's theme - middle age female sexual tourists in the hellish Haiti of the 1970s - will undoubtedly be misunderstood by those seeking a conventional fantasy island romance or a political thriller. The story develops in a rather simplistic way presenting its characters without being judgmental at a pace commesurable to the island life. Its portrait of white women in their 50s paying poor young black men for sex and the murderous brutality of the Haitian political regime is presented realistically without melodrama. It is refreshing to see a film attempting to capture life in Haiti as it really was without resorting to Hollywood fakery and not being afraid of presenting older women driven by sexual desire.

Stuart S. gave it an8:
This film is about sex but if you think this is a "sexy" film you will be surprised. A profound look about a subject I knew nothing about in a world before the AIDS crisis.

Ken G. gave it a4:
Nothing really works here. Much of film is simply too dull, and talky, with little going on, until it makes a belated, and rather clumsy attempt to drag itself into thriller territory late in the story. Also, the characters aren't really well drawn, (accept for Rampling). Young's character is seriously underwritten. You get little sense that anyone was giving much thought to her character, as she almost comes off as a silly romance novel heroine, as the lonely woman, feverishly determined to recapture the lone organism of her live, with her dream lover. Please, couldn't they have just made her a woman looking to reconnect with the guy she had great sex with? And her "dream lover" is too much of a blank page to make it believable that both Young and Rampling would be madly in love with him. The fact that he was a blank page, might have been filmmaker's point. That the women didn't care who he was, they just wanted to use him. But it doesn't work. And the plump French woman, just seems to be hanging around the movie for no particular reason. The filmmakers simply weren't as interested in developing their story and characters, as they were in delivering messages about women, sexual tourism, exploitation, and colonization.

Je B. gave it a3:
Great actors, fascinating location--terrible script. So bad, it's laughable. No believable characters. These over 40 women have no lives. Apparently, their only pleasure is screwing young black men. Dialogue that makes one's eyes roll to the back of the head. Was hoping for a political film about Haiti in the 70s. This is a film made by aging males with an ax to grind.

Ken G. gave it a4:
Nothing really works here. Much of film is simply too dull, and talky, with little going on, until it makes a belated, and rather clumpsy attempt to drag itself into thriller territory late in the story. Also, the characters aren't really well drawn, (accept for Rampling). Young's character is seriously underwritten. You get little sense that anyone was giving much thought to her character, as she almost comes off as a silly romance novel heroine, as the lonely woman, feverishly determined to recapture the lone organism of her live, with her dream lover. Please, couldn't they have just made her a woman looking to reconnect with the guy she had great sex with? And her "dream lover" is too much of a blank page to make it believeable that both Young and Rampling would be madly in love with him. The fact that he was a blank page, might have been filmmaker's point. That the women didn't care who he was, they just wanted to use him. But it doesn't work. And the plump French woman, just seems to be hanging around the movie for no particular reason. The filmmakers simply weren't as interested in developing their story and characters, as they were in delivering messages about women, sexual tourism, exploitation, and colonization.

Je B. gave it a3:
great actors, fascinating locatiion--terrible script. so bad, it's laughable. no believeable characters. these over 40 women have no lives. apparently, their only pleasure is screwing young black men. dialogue that makes one's eyes roll to the back of the head. was hoping for a political film abt. Haiti in the 70s. this is a film made by aging males with an ax to grind.

George R. gave it a2:
great fertile material, excavated wonderfully for the first forty minutes and then it completely pooped out on itself, becoming laughably bad. more like an essay than a compelling narrative. and then more like pure nonsense than a movie. pity - the theater was packed with disappointed hopefuls, spurred on by critics.

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