Heading South

Make a mental note of the name Laurent Cantet -- with this successor to Human Resources (1999) and Time Out (2001) he establishes himself as a director who guarantees an intellectually engaging film. Keenly attuned to the realities of economic life, he brings a political agenda that is tempered by a tough-minded empathy that extends across class lines. So this is a film about neocolonialism and sexual tourism, with lots to say about race and gender, but with clear-eyed sympathy for all its characters, except for Baby Doc Duvalier’s thugs in 1970s Haiti. We arrive with Karen Young (recognizable as Adrianna’s FBI case agent from The Sopranos) at a beachside resort, where she makes a beeline for a black youth lying on the beach, and soon meets Charlotte Rampling, a French literature professor from Wellesley who is the rooster-hen who rules this migratory roost of aging birds, well-off white women nesting with pretty black boys. They vie for the attentions and favor of the beautiful young man, who has troubles of his own outside the sequestered confines of this paradisal resort on an infernal island. There is no reflexive moralism here, but rather an honest acknowledgement of mutual need, and revelation of character under emotional stress. There is no taking of sides, just a depth-charged understanding of each side. Beautiful to look at, this film is even more impressive to think about. (2006, dvd, n.) *7+* (MC-73.)