Fantastic Fest Review: SLUT IN A GOOD WAY Is A Charming, Thoughtful Coming-Of-Age Story
Heteronormative sexual dynamics are crazy, folks. Maybe this is just my queer perspective showing, but the idea that there are immutable, behavioral truisms that are commonly accepted to fall along gender lines is absolutely wild, particularly when it comes to the idea that both virginity and sluthood are decried as unacceptable labels for young women. If a woman is unwilling to have sex, she’s depicted as prudish or boring, but when a woman enjoys sex too much, she’s defined by her sexuality in a way that ignores her personhood. Slut In A Good Way is a film that examines and breaks down that dynamic in a light, coming-of-age context, and while I found the film to be overall only mildly amusing, the ways in which it destigmatizes the notion of female sexual autonomy are fabulous.
Charlotte (Marguerite Bouchard) believes she has found the love of her life, only to be destroyed when her boyfriend comes out to her as gay. Heartbroken and not entirely sure how to reconcile her love for a boy who could never find her attractive, she goofs off and gets drunk with her friends Mégane (Romaine Denis), an anarchist with a cynical perspective on relationships, and Aube (Rose Adam), whom Mégane constantly ridicules for being a virgin. Their antics lead them into a local toy store, and upon discovering that many attractive men work there, the three women apply for jobs with the hope of getting laid. Charlotte particularly takes to this goal, and before she knows it she’s slept with almost every male employee in the workforce, save for the one she has actually started to develop feelings for (Alex Godbout).
This in itself is a clever set-up for a romantic comedy, but Slut In A Good Way is a bit more determined to mine the premise for its worth as a commentary on the public perception of female sexuality. When the female employees discover that the men have been keeping tabs on who the women have slept with and have been keeping score, the women organize a sexual strike, operating under the guise of an abstinence drive to raise money for charity. It’s an obvious allusion to the Greek play Lysistrata, in which the women of Athens deny their male counterparts the pleasure of sex as an act of political activism, but the translation to the ordinary dating dynamics of teenagers doesn’t dilute the sexual politics in the slightest. If anything, it heightens the immediacy of the examination by demonstrating that the double standards of slut-shaming are contemporary and relevant to regular people, particularly in how Aube's virginity is alternately viewed as a strategic benefit or liability depending on how much she expresses romantic desire.
This is all shot with gorgeous black and white cinematography that pans and focuses on characters with comic enthusiasm. The jokes aren’t quite as biting or consistent as one might expect from a sex comedy, but they get the job done, even if in a mildly chuckle-worthy sort of way more than in anything that provokes full laughter. The only exception is Romaine Denis’ turn as Mégane, whose persistent refusal to give any fucks as she spouts anti-capitalist rhetoric never stops being delightful.
Slut In A Good Way is a slight, feel-good story that still manages to slip in important perspectives on the double standards inherent in modern interactions between genders. How much the comedy works for you personally is a matter of varying mileage, but the undeniable fact of the matter is that Slut In A Good Way has much more on its mind than just making you laugh.
Oh, and the film closes on a Bollywood dance ending. It comes out of nowhere, is delightful, and is worth the price of admission in and of itself. You know, in case you needed a reason to be charmed today.
