Noémie Merlant
The Balconettes
6.3 
6.6Three women in a Marseille apartment gets stuck in a heat wave. They find themselves trapped in a terrifying affair and longing for freedom.
- Director: Noémie Merlant
- Main Cast: Noémie Merlant, Lucas Bravo, Souheila Yacoub, Sanda Codreanu
- Cinematography: Evgenia Alexandrova
- Screenplay: Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant
Original title in France is Les femmes au balcon.
Cinema Premiere: October 15, 2024
English Reviews
6 english reviews of The Balconettes (2024)
-
-
8 / 10
Merlant leans full tilt into the darker aspects of her story, the sunny colour palette giving way to sickly blood reds and the cold shadows and sharp edges of the man’s apartment. The film’s gorier elements are shocking, but a subplot involving Nicole’s newfound ability to see the ghosts of men (specifically those killed by women) is more chilling still.
- Nikki Baughan -
-
7 / 10
"The Balconettes" is most effective when it breathes, pauses and takes things seriously for a moment — as in that taut opening sequence, or in a hotel-room reconciliation between Élise and Paul that goes unnervingly awry, proving the different forms that sexual assault can take.
- Guy Lodge -
5 / 10
"The Balconettes" feels more like it’s striking feminist poses than working through serious issues, and the throwing of whatever cinematic material against the wall and waiting to see what sticks is not a strategy that really works here.
- Leslie Felperin -
4 / 10
"The Balconettes" is relentlessly silly, self-indulgent and unsuited to its themes of misogyny and sexual violence
- Peter Bradshaw
Foreign Reviews
9 foreign reviews of The Balconettes (2024)
-
8.3 / 10
Translated from swedish: Heat wave, a hot neighbor, and an everyday conflict that evolves into a bloodbath. Delicious "The Balconettes" mixes genres but is primarily an original and easily digestible comedy.
- Karoline ErikssonSwedish: svd.se »
-
Positive, no rating
Translated from swedish: "The Balconettes" is a tribute to uninhibited female friendship disguised as a macabre comedy, leaving you with both laughter and a lump in your throat as a lasting aftertaste.
- Vera AtterforsSwedish: kultmagasin.se »
-
6 / 10
Translated from swedish: A relatively harmless flirtation with a neighbor leads to chilling bloodshed and sisterly solidarity. Our French balcony film offers a mixed compote of genres as more than one revenge is taken.
- Charlotte BrangeSwedish: moviezine.se »
-
6 / 10
Translated from swedish: "The Balconettes" genre-switches between Almodóvar-esque color extravagance and hysterical comedy, bloody rape revenge and supernatural fairy tale.
- Emma Gray MuntheSwedish: aftonbladet.se »
-
6 / 10
Translated from swedish: Brutally humorous and feminist revenge trip
- Fredrik SahlinSwedish: dn.se »
-
6 / 10
Translated from swedish: I think anyone who likes old Almodóvar films will enjoy this one, a bit hysterical but quite charming
- Emma EngströmSwedish: sverigesradio.se »
-
6 / 10
Translated from swedish: Macabre feminist comedy
- Mattias OscarssonSwedish: sydsvenskan.se »
-
4 / 10
Translated from swedish: The comedic timing is non-existent in "The Balconettes"
- Mats JohnsonSwedish: gp.se »
-
4 / 10
Translated from swedish: An absurd film with a significant focus on sex and blood.
- Rosemari SödergrenSwedish: kulturbloggen.com »
Other films by Noémie Merlant
Mi iubita, mon amour
2021-
⏱️ 95 min
5.9 5.2
1. IndieWire
For all of the gravity that Merlant reserves for her film’s treatment of rape, "The Balconettes" refuses to become a po-faced #MeToo drama that defines its characters by the same kind of threats they exist to defy. On the contrary, it leans into the tonal chaos of life on earth, creating an impressively layered genre mishmash that reflects the complex reality of how women are seen in the world, and how they see themselves in return.
- David Ehrlich
IndieWire »