Review: ‘Black and White and Sex’

This striking Australian film delves into the realities of what it’s really like to be a prostitute.

The whole film takes place on a large, stark set, surrounded by lights and cameras with a largely unseen cameraman lurking somewhere in the shadows. He asks the questions and ‘Angie’ answers them. She has a science degree, but she’s also a prostitute.

The filmmaker’s agenda appears to be breaking the myth or the cinematic image of prostitutes. He talks about the various archetypes movies give us: the control freak, the man-hater, the psychologically damaged woman, the nymphomanic and the drug addict.

Uniquely, ‘Angie’ is played by eight different actresses, each of whom gives a subtle, nuanced performance as a different facet of a single character. In this way we see Angie not as a two-dimensional archetype but as a multi-faceted human being – sweet, vulnerable, angry, sassy, honest, disingenuous and much more. This casting device vividly presents the film’s central theme: that each woman is different, but when they work in the sex industry they’re lumped together under a single label.

As the director’s questions become more probing, she begins attacking him and the dialogue becomes a duel. One ‘Angie’ is determined to win since the man behind the camera refuses to let go of what he describes as ‘widely held beliefs’.

The film doesn’t shy away from potentially controversial topics. Intimacy, love, foreplay, submission, power-play and possession are all touched on with a refreshing frankness and honesty.

The decision to shoot the film entirely in black and white (something the issue of prostitution never is) heightens the minimalist impression the set creates and further underlines the film’s central theme.

This is a brave, singular and completely engrossing film that deserves a far bigger audience than it’s likely to get.

8/10