Special Treatment

Writer-director Jeanne Lebrune contrasts the lives of a prostitute and a psychoanalyst in this deliberately paced drama. Like her well-heeled clients, high-class hooker Alice (Isabelle Huppert) works out of a business-like room, except that hers sports a bed instead of a couch. For some men she dresses as a schoolgirl; for others, she dons dominatrix gear. Xavier (Bouli Lanners), a professorial-looking man who shares a practice with his wife, begins to see Alice while his marriage is disintegrating. Between his compulsive hand-washing and crying jags, Xavier seems to need help more than his patients, but Lebrune and actor/co-writer Richard Debuisne unfortunately don't fill in any back-stories. Alice's motivation comes from wanting to buy various items. Xavier, who in Alice's mind represents a coveted chandelier, also frequents auction houses where he bids on pricey collectibles, a hobby that he finds more interesting than his career. Lebrune alternates between the recent past and the present in depicting their sessions with each other, but for most of the running time, neither psychiatrist nor prostitute are giving or getting much in the way of sexual or emotional satisfaction. Although Special Treatment can be slow-moving, the gifted Huppert is always eminently watchable, making this a strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)