What’s this? Welcome To New York, the controversial new film that’s definitely not about Dominique Strauss-Kahn and that time he was accused of sexually assaulting maid Nafissatou Diallo at the Sofitel Hotel in New York.
What do you mean it’s ‘definitely not’ about that? It’s a purely fictional interpretation of the high-profile case that dominated the media during the summer of 2011.
Right, so it’s not about it, but it is kind of? That’s all we’re saying.
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Guessing it doesn’t paint the main character in a very good light then? You could say that. Gerard Depardieu plays Devereaux, a man with a high-profile job in the banking world. He has bawdy sex parties and is accused of sexually assaulting a maid in his hotel room before being arrested and put under house arrest while his wife tries to deal with the press and pick up the pieces.
Wow. Bawdy sex parties? Yeah, they’re um, pretty intense to watch, to put it mildly.
Oh, DO tell. Erm, OK so Depardieu’s character spends a lot of time with prostitutes and their interactions are pretty shocking stuff to watch. There’s boob and bum slapping and grabbing, heavy grunting and thrusting, unwanted advances shown in pretty graphic detail... It’s a tough but fascinating watch. Get ready for the fully nude shots of Gerard Depardieu you never knew you needed, too.
Wow. And what about the non-sex bits? Are there any of those? Oh yes, at 2 hours, this film is a little bit long in our opinion, but it does mean there’s time for other stuff *other *than watching Depardieu force a prostitute to deep throat him.
The relationship between Devereaux and his daughter is played out over some quite interesting scenes, including one where he meets her boyfriend and asks him if he likes ‘fucking’ his daughter (weird) and one in which his daughter gets all indignant about people getting mad at Devereaux for having a sex addiction.
The bits with his wife, played by Jacqueline Bisset, are a bit awkward and don’t massively work in our humble opinion, but it’s probably tough to know how you’d react if your husband was arrested for ‘jerking’ over a maid in a hotel, right guys?
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So what are the grown-up critics saying about it? It’s a mixed bag. Xan Brooks at T_he Guardian_ loves it, calling the film a ‘lurid, filthy pantomime; a film so brazen and foolhardy that it had sections of the Cannes audience hooting in astonishment. I watched the whole thing with my jaw on the floor.’
While Eddie Harrison over at The List says it’s ‘A film which says little of consequence beyond fictionalising its target; only Bisset’s Lady Macbeth-like presence hits an appropriately hysterical note for this tabloid-trashy film which quickly chokes on its pretensions.’
And what are we saying? WELL. It’s been a week since we watched it and honestly guys, we’re still in shock. If you’ve got a strong stomach and you fancy seeing an overweight old man maul young girls in a grotesque fashion then this is your film. It’s definitely worth a watch to remind you that this culture of hard drugs and prostitutes still exists and is in full swing among the moneyed crowd. We did find ourselves getting the slightest bit tetchy during some of the longer conversational scenes, but all in all, it was absolutely worth a watch, if just so you’ve got a good thing to talk about at the pub.
Just steer clear of seeing it with your Dad.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.