The screen student-prostitute,a twenty-first-century discourse: Mes chères études (2010),Elles (2011),Jeune et jolie (2013)

Abstract

This article traces the student-prostitute from its 2008 inception in the popular press, and follows its emergence on screen in three recent fiction films. Through close readings and historical contextualisation, I dissect the iconic figure: while the first French student-prostitute film Mes chères études exposes the economic desperation of students and the efficiency of the part-time work with a Marxist gloss, the films that follow, Elles and Jeune et jolie, diminish the students’ financial need. Conversely and increasingly we find students desiring sex with their clients perhaps more than money. As the films depict young, educated, French-speaking, future professionals who subtly approach clients via text messages and emails, we also find a nostalgic, nationalistic portrait that defends the age-old profession. In fact Sarkozy claimed in a 2002 Senate address that prostitution was once ‘traditional’, and largely French, while now 80 per cent of prostitutes are immigrants from Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. The films also incorporate the demands of the growing sex-worker movement; the students work autonomously and by choice; and the violence they endure (which the films depict with diminishing frequency) does not cause any obvious psychological or physical harm.