VERS LE SUD (HEADING SOUTH)

France, 2005, 100 minutes, Colour.
Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Louise Portal, Menothy Cesar, Lys Ambroise, Jenkinson Pierre Olmo Diaz, Wilfred Paul.
Directed by Laurent Cantet.

For a while, Laurence Cantet’s fans might be wondering whether he has forgotten his deeply social concerns in his previous fine films, Resources Humaine and L’Emploi? du Temps (Time Out). A moving prologue where a Haitian woman offers to sell her daughter to the proprietor of a hotel for tourists should have warned us. Cantet has a lot to say.

The setting is Haiti in the late 70s.

This is the kind of film where audiences will respond quite differently, depending on their points of view, especially on social justice. The three central characters are three wealthy middle-aged women from the US and Canada who holiday in Haiti, especially for the young men who operate as gigolos at the hotel. They are women whose busy lives are basically empty and they travel for what Cantet refers to as ‘love tourism’ rather than ‘sex tourism’, though they are predatory in their needy attitudes nonetheless. Were these women or audiences who share their presuppositions to watch this film, they might so identify with the women that they would, like the women themselves, not be aware of the social undercurrents in the country or ignore them or push them aside.

On the other hand, those who are alert to the sub-plot of the young Haitian who services the women, his other life beyond the hotel, and the comments made to the audience by the hotel manager, Vers le Sud turns into a strong critique of the affluent west who have no qualms in calmly exploiting the economically, socially and morally poor. As the hotel manager tells us, the country (under Duvalier rule with secret police and terror murders) is corrupt. His family had fought the Americans in the war of 1915. He says the current weapon is far more destructive than guns. It is dollars.

This means that the film works on several levels all the way through. While the women and their emotional crises are in the forefront – and very well portrayed and acted – there is a whole lot more going on, of deeper human significance.

The women are played by Charlotte Rampling with her skill in being both cold and cynical as well as deeply passionate. Louise Portal is a genial factory boss from Montreal. Karen Young is the seeming innocent who is ultimately as heartless as Charlotte Rampling’s character.

The three women are given brief monologues (as is the style of the short stories by Dany Laferriere which Cantet has adapted) which reveal their basic attitudes and expectations.

On the surface, as sunny as the beaches where most of the action takes place. Below the surface, the ugliness and destruction, that is generally hidden from the tourists.

1. The title, the geographical South, the south of failure, sexual implications?

2. The settings in Haiti, the background of its history, dictatorships, colonialism, exploitation, the beauty of the landscapes, the beaches, hotels and resorts, restaurants, bars? The musical score?

3. The problems in Haiti, prologue, the woman and her story, the history of Haiti? Setting the tone for the film – and the social critique?

4. The focus on the three women, sexual tourism, or the title of love tourism? The exploitation implied? Self-centredness? Money?

5. The locals, the young men, black, racial issues, age issues, education issues? Their role as gigolos? Performance? Sexual encounters? The money? Effect on them as persons, the relationships? Future?

6. The three women, the British woman in America, the American woman from the South, the Canadian woman? The countries and powers that they represented?

7. Ellen, British background, teaching French in Boston, age, visiting Haiti, her intentions, sexual liaisons, the relationship with Legba? Personal concern about him, wanting to save him – yet exploiting in? The end?

8. Brenda, coming to Haiti three years earlier, the role of her husband with Legba, choose one using him for sexual liaison? The tension in her marriage, the return to Haiti? Her anger, the using him and the exploitation, explosion?

9. Sue, age, work in Canada, easy-going, sexual tourism, relationships?

10. Legba, age, experience, his past with Brenda and her husband? With Ellen? his attitude towards his work, his future? The other young men, their rivalries?

11. The role of Albert, his speech, critique of the past?

12. The importance of the three monologues from the three women, revealing themselves, their attitudes?

13. The build up to the climax – and the possibilities for the future?