Silver Girls

Saara Alia Waasner's Silver Girls (Frauenzimmer in German) offers a nonjudgmental profile of three older professional sex workers in Berlin, suggesting that times have indeed changed since James Ellroy's Eisenhower-era-set L.A. Confidential, in which fictional call girls had to retire at age 30. Fifty-eight-year-old Christel, a divorced mother in a long-term relationship, entered the field at 51, finding “a considerable demand for older women,” and says she enjoys sex more now than when she was younger. Karolina, a 64-year-old grandmother with a Bettie Page hairstyle, was 50 when she became a dominatrix and feels that the work suits her assertive nature (like Christel, Karolina didn't find sexual satisfaction until later in life). While Christel and Karolina manage their own careers, 50-year-old Paula runs a bordello with four prostitutes. She's the veteran here, tracing her roots back to pre-unification East Berlin. With “visitors” ranging in age from 19 to 85, Paula can't imagine doing anything else, although she longs to move to a more tropical climate and fears the day her services are no longer requested. Aside from interviews, Waasner—displaying an easy rapport with her subjects—films the women at home, with family members, and at work, but doesn't include clients, with the exception of a submissive seen in a nonsexual context. A surprising epilogue catches up with the three women after some significant life changes. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)