Malika tells Helene a shocking story. She ran away from her family after her father sold her to an Algerian businessman. Homeless, living on the streets, she was turned into a sex slave by a vicious criminal organization. In the tense final act, Helene joins forces with Malika in an elaborate and daring scheme to double–cross her pimps and get both her freedom and her revenge.

Review
For the first two-thirds of this movie, writer-director Coline Serreau gives us an entertaining social critique that maintains a comic tone while making valid points about the psychological and physical abuse of women. The film has a serious message, but Serreau leavens it with enough humor and wry insights into her characters to keep her story from getting too heavy handed. Also, she balances the satire with moments that have emotional resonance; one example is the uncomfortable silence as a mother tries to form an emotional connection with her disinterested son in a cafeteria. Unfortunately, the film loses its comic tone when it takes a lengthy narrative digression into Nomie's (Rachida Brakni)'s background story. It feels almost as if a different movie was inserted into this one, and the story becomes a ham-fisted and somewhat far-fetched tale of a woman getting back at her one-dimensional, dehumanized male oppressors. The performances are still good and Serreau does manage to generate sympathy for the female characters, but her message might have been more compelling if it had been more subtle. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide

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