‘The Balconettes’ Review: Noémie Merlant Lets Loose in Topical, Genre-bending Romp | Cannes

Noémie Merlant first gained universal recognition in Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Since then Merlant has continued to impress, starring in films like Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District before directing her debut feature Mi Iubita Mon Amour. Returning to the Croisette with her sophomore film, Merlant delivers an unrestrained, genre-bending experience that engagingly comments on femininity and consent.

The Balconettes begins on a sudden, shocking note as the camera pans to a woman lying still on a balcony.  She is covered in bruises and could very well be dead, but she manages to slowly get up and grab a weapon before violently slicing the back of her husband’s head wide open. The camera finally cuts to the titular Balconettes who, like the rest of the neighbours, are out on their balcony enjoying the heat in their Marseille apartment. The shock of the murder lingers as Ruby (Souheila Yacoub), Nicole (Sanda Codreanu) and Elise (Merlant) are introduced. 

They are three best friends living in a vibrant flat that highlights who they are and almost delightfully contradicts the grim opening scene. Ruby is a cam girl, she’s openly proud of her sexuality and is unafraid to loudly perform for her paying subscribers in their apartment. Nicole is the reserved one, she’s a writer looking for inspiration and takes an interest in watching her neighbours, Rear Window-style. Merlant’s Elise is an actress, who arrives dolled up in an blonde wig and a stunning red dress looking like Marilyn Monroe. After noticing a half-naked, good-looking man (Lucas Bravo) living across the street, the girls take an interest and get themselves an invite to his place later that evening. They party and have a good time until Nicole and Elise head back home, but Ruby decides to stay. Just like the abrupt opening scene, their world is turned upside down as it suddenly cuts to the next morning with Ruby covered in blood, which marks a huge shift to a darker tone.

Merlant infuses the film with an energetic bang as the film leans into its dark, frantic tone that bares hilarious fruits and serious intrigue. After finding the blood-soaked Ruby, all three characters head over to their neighbour’s place to see the damage. It’s an extremely gory sight and the trio all scream their lungs out, it’s here where a great example of Merlant’s genre gymnastics works a treat. Their screams are interrupted by someone at the door, and out of nowhere to mask the screams Elise hilariously makes sex noises to throw off the neighbour. The dark, childish humour that’s utilised in tandem with the horror of the scene is frankly genius. 

The first half is a riot as the trio figure out what to do with the dead body, where constant chaos and melodrama ensues. Codreanu plays the most reactive of the three, her eyes bulge non-stop at every shocking sight, it’s not subtle but a joy to watch as she overreacts to every scare. Merlant does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the laughs, she proves her comedy chops in an unrestrained way, as demonstrated in the aforementioned moment. Yacoub brings the chaos early on and she’s lovable for it, she is the match that lights the fire that kick starts the story. 

There is a noticeable tonal shift midway through that is decisive to the changing flow of the story which is needed to develop the film’s underlying, serious themes. With the film plateauing as the girls figure out where to keep the deceased corpse, Merlant’s on-screen husband arrives which provides a greater insight into their relationship and sexual life. They meet in a Marseille hotel where he is incredibly horny and extremely forceful as she gives in to his sexual desires, he crudely finishes in record time and shockingly lets loose on her face. Celine Sciamma’s go-to editor Julien Lacheroy works his magic here with an impactful cut to Elise storming out of the hotel as her husband ignorantly shouts at her, acting like he did nothing wrong and sexual abuse is okay. Elise’s husband henceforth turns into a rabid, wild animal chasing her around the city. He and the dead photographer illustrate just a few of the problems women face, whether it is in a relationship or not, the same issues are sadly commonplace when it comes to acting on sexual desires. 

Merlant begins to explore consent, sexual violence, body positivity and the different ways women deal with it. As a director she is unshy, brave and freeing in her directorial approach as the characters begin expressing themselves more as they begin to grapple with their traumas. The film is extremely French, one often sees half-naked people roaming the streets and beaches in the south of France and the writer-director embraces it here. Elise is freed from her tight, Marilyn Monroe dress and wears looser tops that flutter in the wind with her breasts confidently exposed. It’s liberation, in the purest form. The ever-growing freedom that’s seen is confidently shown as Merlant’s Elise lays bare with her private parts out in the open in a hilarious scene with a gynecologist as she awkwardly waits for him to inspect her ovaries. Cinematographer Evgenia Alexandrova’s shot lingers for a good minute and is wonderfully direct in its full-frontal nature. Alexandrova’s work truly adds another dimension to each scene, immersing one in horror but also displays the freedom that the three friends find by the end of the film.

By the end of The Balconettes, Noémie Merlant successfully rounds out the leading trio’s winding arc as they strut along the Marseille coastline as they confidently step into a new era of their lives. They know they can be themselves and not cater to the men around them. The apartment they live in represents a bubble of freedom for the women as they form their way of living away from the male gaze of society. As a director and an actress, Merlant truly lets loose and holds nothing back with her brilliant sophomore feature.

Grade: B+

This review is from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival where The Balconettes premiered out of Competition. There is no U.S. distribution at this time.

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Ben Rolph

Ben is a film and television journalist, who is based out of London, United Kingdom. As the Senior film critic at DiscussingFilm, Ben regularly writes reviews, features, interviews and attends film festivals. Also, Ben runs the DiscussingFilm Critic Awards that have been running since 2019 and is a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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