As a glimpse into a curious subculture this provokes interest, but in dramatic and political terms it’s a missed opportunity.
Comment
07/07/06
Heading South (2006)
69
%
Tomatometer
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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 CriticHeading 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.
07/04/06
Top CriticThe film is rich, cultured and slightly tiresome.
07/08/06
Heading South is a beautifully shot, superbly acted, thought-provoking and ultimately moving film with superb performances from all concerned.
07/06/06
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 CriticClick to read the article
09/30/06
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01/06/07
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10/18/08
Provocative subject matter and a rather magnificent performance by Charlotte Rampling aside, the occasional flickering hint of deeper meaning isn't enough to sustain interest.
08/24/06
A movie about middle-aged women frolicking with smooth-skinned Haitian locals on the beach can be either erotic and sensual, or exploitive and pointless.
02/12/06
It also boasts another rich performance by Charlotte Rampling who continues to grow more interesting as an actress.
03/26/08
Cantet's pictures are screwball comedies played straight
09/24/05
Laurent Cantet directs his adaptation of Dany Laferreiere's La Chair du Maitre as if it were a Danielle Steele novel.
08/25/06
While its main characters are admirably humanized, this is nevertheless a movie about economic exploitation. It's a very sexual work, but it is far more political at its core.
07/21/06
Three excellent performances from the leading ladies, though at times Cantet's leisurely pace is perhaps a bit too holiday-like.
01/10/06
While the film's focus is hazy and the dialogue sometimes clunky, it's still worth seeing . . . a melancholy reminder of the myopia in which privileged, self-absorbed whites can wrap themselves while travelling abroad.
07/06/06
The women are meant to level the emotional playing field and add depth to what is, at heart, a story about the exploitation of poor nations by rich and powerful ones. But they wind up being too bitter and unstable to elicit much sympathy.
07/20/06
Top CriticOkay, we'll admit that the ideal of being fawned over and adored by half-dressed men has some appeal, but this movie doesn't... sex in paradise shouldn't be this uninteresting.
11/30/06
It's a measured, stately film, and that makes the women's behavior -- 'It's incredible how racist they can be,' says Young, ignorant of her own racism -- even more shocking.
09/07/06
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
Latest News for Heading South
July 06, 2006:
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