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‘The Balconettes’ Review: Noémie Merlant’s Sweaty Midsummer #MeToo Ghost Story
In Noémie Merlant's uneven but enjoyable 'The Balconettes,' flirting with the cute guy across the street has grisly consequences for three roommates.
Ruby shares a messy boho-chic apartment with Nicole (Sanda Codreanu, resembling a French Rachel McAdams), a rather more shy aspiring author, while their actress pal Élise (Merlant) appears to stay there more often than not, despite having a clingy husband, Paul (Christophe Montenez), in another city. Merlant’s script never quite sells us on why these three disparate women are close friends, but they make for a high-energy trio, activated the moment Élise arrives at the apartment — still in platinum Marilyn Monroe drag from her current movie shoot, another Almodóvarean detail — in an anxious flap over Paul, whose non-stop phone calls are bordering on harassment. The palpably draining humidity of the setting enhances the desperation of such scenes: Evgenia Alexandrova’s roving camerawork always feels suitably fevered and burnt with color, beginning with a vertiginous flight across the assorted balconies of the residential avenue where the action kicks off.
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