The Red Light Rules: Vivre Sa Vie
"Last night, Mel & I watched Vivre Sa Vie (or ‘My Life to Live’), a French film from 1962 about a young woman who leaves her husband to pursue her dream of becoming an actress but ultimately becomes a street based sex worker in Paris. The cinematography was gorg, and so was the actress Anna Karina who played our main character, Nana.
They did a great job of showing the reason she got into sex work (she needed rent money; don’t we all!) and her gradually becoming skilled at negotiating her rate and upselling. There’s a scene where she basically takes money out of a client’s hand and he’s like …ya know what, fair lol I loved the monologue between her and her pimp, he’s basically putting her on game. It was funny to hear a French person in the 60’s use the exact same lingo we still use now (ie. “tricks” and “overnights”). That made me feel a sense of connection to whores of the past!
HOWEVER. I hated the fucking ending. And that’s all I’ll say about that."
– Raquel
Vivre Sa Vie scored 3/4 on The Red Light Rules™ that assesses portrayals of sex work in film. We created 4 questions to determine this:
1. Does the film show an understanding of choice, circumstance, and/or coercion? yes
2. Does the SWer interact with another person in a positive manner unrelated to SW? yes
3. Does the SWer have a storyline, hobby, or interest outside of SW? yes
4. Does the film have a happy and/or non-traumatic ending for the SWer?
