About: An impassioned and insightful rebuttal to the assumptions, misconceptions, and faulty representations that surround sex work and sex workers, Modern Whore may also be the most audacious and engaging movie ever made about the oldest profession.
Successfully expanding on their 2020 short film and book of the same name, director Nicole Bazuin and subject and co-writer Andrea Werhun take viewers on a very eventful journey through Werhun’s experiences as an escort and exotic dancer, a career she began when she was a university student in Toronto. As Werhun recounts with great flair and frankness in the film’s stylized, fourth-wall-breaking re-enactments, there were many lessons to be learned and challenges to be faced, including the lack of protection from toxic clients and her own internalized versions of the shame that society associates with female pleasure and the sex industry.
Reaction: WOW! I had heard about Andrea Werhun when I first saw her in last year’s PAYING FOR IT by filmmaker Sook-Yin Lee and recall her being an actual sex worker after seeing the movie, and also a book was mentioned. In this fascinating and beautifully produced documentary that I feel might be overlooked, it shines a big light on her life and what she does in one of the most interesting visual presentations I have seen in a movie all year that has a lot of interviews, re-enactments and visual tricks that I found refreshing for a low-budget documentary on a pretty telling subject.
While your own take on sex work and the industry may be something you may not agree with, I found MODERN WHORE bringing the curtain back and showing the lifestyle of an individual who really does try to work the business safely and with honestly while at the same time understanding the eventual outcomes. Andrea is NOT afraid to put all of herself on screen here and show all of the other side of this business, while at the same showing the positives to not only her but the people around her. This also looks great on the big screen and I hope it finds an audience with some theatrical presentations before going to streaming services.
