ONE OF THE MOST INTELLIGENT AND POLITICALLY ASTUTE OF CONTEMPORARY FRENCH FILM-MAKERS, LAURENT CANTET FOLLOWS HIS JUSTLY ACCLAIMED HUMAN RESOURCES (1999) AND TIME OUT (2001) WITH A STUDY OF ‘SEX TOURISM’—OR ‘LOVE TOURISM’, AS HE PREFERS TO CALL IT—SET IN HAITI DURING THE LATE SEVENTIES.
Heading South opens with a beautifully observed scene set at the airport in Port au Prince. A dignified Haitian woman pleads with a well-dressed man to take her teenage daughter with him so that the girl might escape the violence of the ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier regime. The man politely declines. He proceeds on his mission to meet Brenda (Karen Young), who is a guest at the hotel where he works as manager.
Brenda, it turns out, is one of a group of middle-aged North American women who visit the island in search of erotic pleasure. They find what they are looking for in Legba (Menothy Cesar), an enigmatic local boy whose beauty captives both Brenda and Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), the latter a veteran sex tourist who has no shame about her pursuits.
As signalled in the film’s subdued yet suggestive opening scene, Cantet’s approach to this potentially sensational material is neither coy nor judgemental. He treats the plight of his female characters with sympathy and understanding, but he doesn’t ignore or excuse their ignorance about the harsh realities of life on their island paradise. Like Human Resources and Time Out, this is another fascinating exploration of the grey area where private and public issues intersect.—Peter Walsh.