Working Girls [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Overview

The Working Girls in this New York-based film are laboring away at the World's Oldest Profession. Molly (Louise Smith), a Yale grad whos lives with her lesbian lover, turns tricks to keep food on the table. She approaches each day with fear and loathing, carrying out her responsibilities with crisp, businesslike efficiency. Her coworkers include Gina (Marussia Zach), who hopes to stay a hooker just long enough to finance her own business, and Dawn (Amanda Goodwin), an outspoken college student who harbors dreams of becoming a lawyer. The film covers a single day in the lives of these three ladies, neither judging nor apologizing: a job's a job, the film seems to be saying, whether it's punching a clock or rolling in the sack with an elderly stranger. Director Lizzie Borden's matter-of-fact approach to her material (based on six months' worth of interviewing genuine prostitutes) places Working Girls head and shoulders above the usual lachrymose "ladies of the evening" drama.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/13/2021
UPC:	0715515261814
Original Release:	1986
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00
Sales rank:	12,709

Special Features

Director-Approved Blu-ray Special Edition Features: New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervisied by director Lizzie Borden, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio Commentary from 2007 featuring Borden, director of photography Judy Irola, and actor Amanda Goodwin New conversation between Borden and filmmaker Bette Gordon New conversation with Goodwin, actor Louise Smith, producer Andi Gladstone, and assistant director Vicky Funari New conversation with sex workers Antonia Crane, Daphne, Selena the Stripper, and Jo Weldon English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Louise Smith	Molly
Ellen McElduff	Lucy
Amanda Goodwin	Dawn
Marusia Zach	Gina
Janne Peters	April
Helen Nicholas	Mary
Janne K. Peters	April
Frederick Neumann	Fantasy Fred
Richard Davidson	Jerry
Paul Slimak	Jay
Patience Pierce	Kathy
Martin Haber	Don
Dan Nutu	George, the Cook
Deborah Banks	Actor
David van Tieghem	Composer

Technical Credits

Lizzie Borden

Sandra Kay

June Roberts

Laurie Craig

Lizzie Borden	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Andi Gladstone	Producer
Sandra Kay	Screenwriter
June Roberts	Screenwriter
Laurie Craig	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

One of the more honest looks at the "oldest profession in the world," Working Girls is not a sophisticated film in any sense of the word. The camerawork may appear amateurish and unprofessional, but the documentary style gives one the impression of being a fly on the wall of a Manhattan brothel for a day. Director Lizzie Borden does not pardon or sensationalize the idea of prostitution but rather shows us an intimate account into the life of a "working girl." "Working" is the operative word here as we are shown that that is exactly what prostitution is to these woman. Borden does not make excuses for the profession, depicting it simply as a job like any other within a capitalist economy. The unknown actresses are contribute to the documentary feel. Working Girls is a film that leaves us not sympathetic towards prostitution per se, but demystifying the work, rendering it almost mundane.

All Movie Guide - Laura Abraham