Wild Side

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Sylvie is a 32-year-old transsexual prostitute.Sylvie feels that her life is somehow wasting away. Often suffering from depression, the desire to end it all sometimes becomes overpowering. In spite of this, she does manage to enjoy a brief moment or two of happiness here and there, such as when she goes out dancing or spends time with her friends, most of whom are also transsexual. One night she meets Mikhail, a Russian immigrant without a residence permit. Mikhail fought in Chechnya and was a deserter before he came to France. He lives from hand to mouth, doing the odd poorly-paid job arranged for him by the owners of the guest-house where he lives. Mikhail shows more than a passing interest in Sylvie. But Sylvie is living with Jamel, a thirty-year-old North African who has fallen out with his family and who, like Sylvie, sometimes goes out on the game. Sylvie makes a surprising decision in that she decides not to chose one partner to the exclusion of the other.Why shouldn’t they simply continue as a trio? Then, one day, Sylvie receives the news that her mother is fatally ill. Sylvie decides she must go and visit her – and that her friends must come along too. And so the three city-dwellers put their hectic lives in Paris behind them and head north for the country…

details

  • Runtime

    94 min
  • Country

    France
  • Year of Presentation

    2004
  • Year of Production

    2003
  • Director

    Sébastien Lifshitz
  • Cast

    Stéphanie Michelini, Edouard Nikitine, Yasmine Belmadi, Josiane Stoleru, Fabrice Rodriguez, Christophe Sermet, Benoît Verhaert, Didier De Neck
  • Production Company

    Maïa Films, Paris
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film
  • Teddy Award Winner

    Best Feature Film

Biography Sébastien Lifshitz

Born in Paris, France in 1968, he studied history of art and worked in the world of contemporary art before turning to film. In 2000 he scored an international theatrical hit with his debut feature film, the coming out story Presque rien. His first feature-length documentary, La traversée, premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. His films have already screened three times in the Berlinale Panorama: in 2004, his feature film Wild Side won the Teddy Award; Plein sud screened in 2010 and his documentary, Bambi, in 2013.

Filmography Sébastien Lifshitz

1994 Il Faut Que Je L‘Aime | 1995 Claire Denis, La Vagabonde | 1998 Les Corps Ouverts | 1999 Les Terres Froides | 2000 Presque Rien | 2002 La Traversee | 2012 Les Invisibles | 2020 Petite Fille