Those moments of self-discovery, can certainly get a little complicated.

Debuting on VOD and the Film Movement Plus streaming service now; My Sole Desire is a fascinating collision of self-discovery and emotion as the lines between playing in the worlds of sexuality and seeing people for who they are become incredibly blurred.

The Paris strip club; À mon seul désir (My Sole Desire) is home to a mesmerizing troupe of seductive female performers. Like a moth to a flame, newcomer Manon (Louise Chevillotte) is drawn to their sensual allure and adopts the stage name Aurore. Among her fellow dancers is audience favorite Mia (César Award winner Zita Hanrot), a beautiful, aspiring actress who moonlights at the club unbeknownst to her live-in boyfriend. From identifying which clients she should avoid to booking private dances, Mia serves as a trusted guide on Manon’s erotic journey. But even as Manon begins to experiment with riskier propositions that Mia will not pursue, it is not long before the two begin to develop romantic feelings for one another. Navigating the complexities of this new life, Manon must face questions about her sexuality as the line between professional and personal desire starts to blur.

Writer/director Lucie Borleteau allows the audience to own the fascination with the human costs behind eroticism that doesn’t shy away from the cold realities of it all while shining it through a rather empowering and wholesome female gaze.  The whole thing acknowledges that self-exploration in these areas can get a little weird and that’s actually OK.

It’s not shot with any kind of a lurid gaze and the ladies are always in the driver’s seat in this world which is why this film actually works as well as it does.  Borleteau doesn’t really present anything in all this as “titillating” or even all that “taboo”, instead it plays as a backdrop to genuine intimacy which is something we’re all starved for in one way or another as human beings.

This quest for human intimacy is all anchored by two fantastic performances from leads Louise Chevillotte and Zita Hanrot who allow for a genuine relationship to blossom and develop in a situation that while is hardly perfect given the situation, it manages to elevate above the transactional nature of their day to day lives, which happens both inside and outside of the strip club.

At the end of it all that’s really the point, because My Sole Desire isn’t about some hedonistic journey of self-discovery, it’s about being able to find some kind of human connection with another individual outside of the noise of our lives which can all be so very distracting.  This story is about daring to push past what can distract us, in order to truly find ourselves.

My Sole Desire is available on VOD and the Film Movement Plus streaming service now.