Though the film heralds more of a brief overview of what it is like to live within a house of tolerance, looking only slightly at customer violence, male objectification, venereal diseases and the inescapable debt women find themselves in. It does a good job of deglamorising prostitution in the 19th/20th century. The film gets away from this almost unanimous ideal we have that mid 18th and 19th century prostitutes that lived in paris in the higher class brothels had these great lives. It shows us that these women are not just the vapid pseudo mistresses of wealthy men but women who each night have to give up a part of themselves in order to survive.
The film also depicted the deep seated sense of sisterhood created in women who have to suffer to survive together. Thats not to say they are not still very of the man eat man mindset that they need to have in order to live but they also have an unspoken understanding and affection towards each other.
This film gave me a better sense and awareness for the way in which men treat women. Within the movie men countlessly express their adoration for the women at the house while continuing giving them backhanded compliments and treating them as simple commodities. It really emphasises the deep rooted misogynistic tendencies of the male mind that they expect and demand sex but do not respect or dignify the women who give it to them.
