Heading South is a well-crafted adaptation of three short stories about rich, white, middle-aged North American women travelling through 70s Haiti in search of no-strings sex with young black men.
Comment
07/04/06
Heading South (2006)
69
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:81
Fresh:56
Rotten:25
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: As touching as it is disturbing, Heading South is an unconventional exploration of desire and longing, with superb performances and direction.
Theatrical Release:07-07-2006
Synopsis: Laurent Cantet's feature film stars Charlotte Rampling and is set in 1970s Haiti. The film examines a time and place in which wealthy women from the east headed to the country in search of sexual... [More]
Reviews for Heading South
Top CriticAs a glimpse into a curious subculture this provokes interest, but in dramatic and political terms it’s a missed opportunity.
07/07/06
Top CriticThe film is rich, cultured and slightly tiresome.
07/08/06
It’s a delight; an entertaining, moving, audacious and stimulating conversation about happiness, love, jealousy, fear, race, sex, class, and social and colonial oppression -- in short, the relationship between the personal and the political.
07/06/06
Top CriticHeading South is a beautifully shot, superbly acted, thought-provoking and ultimately moving film with superb performances from all concerned.
07/06/06
Where does Legba go when he leaves? Neither the women nor the director seem to care.
10/19/06
The movie avoids devolving into polemic by treating its characters as individuals.
08/18/06
Exploring female desire in a way films rarely do, Heading South is a film of sometimes subtle, sometimes blunt metaphors for the interaction of rich and pauperized countries.
09/23/06
Director Laurent Cantet dabbles in the waters of change with great subtlety.
09/05/06
Heading South opens up a fascinating world of complexities, some of which are there on the screen although others open up only once the horizon line moves past the screen's edge.
11/30/06
But though the women talk a lot about the soul-changing effects of great sex, Cantet largely steers clear of cinematic sensuality, making his heroines' satisfaction -- and the way it exploits the poor -- primarily theoretical.
07/06/06
A nervy but muddleheaded work ... with sharply unpleasant things to say about the First World's moral strip-mining of the Third but an overly tactful way of saying them.
08/04/06
"Heading South" is more of a middling film precisely because it is so obviously tackling an issue and making a statement. As a result, the characters and the story suffer.
10/19/06
At 60, with three 2006 releases in the can, Rampling still seems an international treasure, a great camera subject and a truly daring actress.
08/17/06
The new film by Laurent Cantet (Human Resources and the masterpiece Time Out) is evocative and disturbing.
07/06/06
In the end, the pretense of romance is what you walk away with. It might have made a memorable study of dark needs if it didn't wear down its vitality with so much dispiriting weakness.
06/21/06
Displays an almost Fassbinder-like sensitivity to emotional shifts in power
08/30/09
A trio of middle-aged white women from different backgrounds relish the tropical pleasures of '70s era Haiti, which includes local teenage gigolos, in writer/director Laurent Cantet's problematic filmic adaptation of three short stories by Dany Laferriere
04/23/09
It's nice that they're finally adapting Harlequin romance novels into movies.
07/04/06
Ramples along as a concise parody of sex-linked colonialism.
07/12/06
Latest News for Heading South
July 06, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Dead Man's Chest" Is Overstuffed; "Scanner" Shines Darkly
This week at the movies, we've got pirates back for more box office bounty ("Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest") and a journey to the center of the mind... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds