A fascinating, raw and often powerful interweaving of fact and fiction, Un Certain Regard opener Party Girl plays like a gritty soap opera at times, slowing introducing its lead characters and getting more and more engaging as the film draws on.
The realist style of the film is what resonates as Party Girl delves into an intimate story amongst a group of people β and a region β rarely seen on film. She has four grown-up children, but is hardly the perfect example of motherhood, and yet she still relishes her club life with fellow dancers and hostesses.
She likes to drink too much and hang out in her bar, but now she is older her client base has withered away. Michel Joseph Nour , a regular client, is still in love with her, and to her surprise asks her to marry him.
To her even greater surprise she says yes. She struggles to adjust to this new life β and has a drunken lapse β before her four children played by real life children Mario Theis, Samuel Theis, Severine Litzenburger and Cynthia Litzenburger arrive from different parts of the country to help arrange aspects of the wedding and share some rare quality time with her.
While the opening half β which details her cabaret life and who she views new domestic life β is quite intriguing, the film comes to life in the second part when her children arrive to try and support her, with the late arrival of youngest daughter Cynthia, who had been placed in a foster home, the most poignant. Drama comes as she begins to have doubts about getting married, and while aspects of the story may well be rather familiar the realist style of the film is what resonates as Party Girl delves into an intimate story amongst a group of people β and a region β rarely seen on film.
