The Social Corset Doc

There's a new, French documentary in town called Images de femmes ou Le corset social (or Images of Women or the Social Corset), which is now available on DVD in France. As you've probably gathered without my specifically stating, Catherine Breillat participates in it. And happily for us, the French DVD has English subtitles. So import away!

Here's the official description taken from the film's press kit: "A man wonders about the image of women offered to his gaze... A questioning about the criteria of beauty promulgated - imposed? - by the fashion world and its models. And little by little the film leads us to think about appearances by reflecting upon the mirages that fill the social universe, lingering on the representations that invade our unconscious desires. Fashion designers, philosophers, feminine magazine editors, advertisers, psychoanalysts, and poets unravel, for us, the laces of a "social corset" that imprisons women, and from which it has become difficult to escape."

The disc appears to be R0 (region free), which is great, but note that it is PAL. I haven't picked this one up myself, since it's focused on the fashion industry and issues of female beauty rather than Breillat and her work; but it has some extras, including additional interviews and a short film; so it could make a nice little pick-up for the Breillat fan who has everything.