Screen/Society--"Simone Barbès or Virtue" (Marie-Claude Treilhou, 1980)
![Ingrid Bourgoin and Martine Simonet sitting in the lobby of the porn theater where they work, in a scene from "Simone Barbès or Virtue".](/images/2021/20211007/692a9b3c1f9cf0b105e3016160eb3bca-CR-Simone 2_20210927051657AM.png "Ingrid Bourgoin and Martine Simonet sitting in the lobby of the porn theater where they work, in a scene from "Simone Barbès or Virtue".")
"Simone Barbès or Virtue"
(Marie-Claude Treilhou, 1980, 77 min, France, French with English subtitles, Color, Digital)
This long-overlooked gem of a debut from Marie-Claude Treilhou plays out in three langourous settings; the first is a porn theater lobby, where leather-clad attendant Simone (Ingrid Bourgoin, looking a little like Trinity from "The Matrix" in weekend mode) and her coworker (Martine Simonet) mix it up with the gents and goblins scurrying past; later, Simone leaves to meet her girlfriend at what may be the most charming lesbian bar ever depicted on screen; and as the night comes to a close, Simone has a delicate, ambiguous exchange with a stranger who picks up women in his car. This simple story about warding off wee-hour loneliness is suffused with rich atmospheres and unexpected gestures, like a fake mustache torpedoed by real tears.
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